Person who shared New Zealand mosque shooting video gets 21 months

A Christchurch businessman who shared a video of worshippers being slaughtered at a New Zealand mosque has been sentenced to 21 months in prison.

Philip Arps had earlier pleaded guilty to two counts of distributing the video, which was livestreamed on Facebook by a gunman on March 15 as he began killing 51 people at two mosques.

Judge Stephen O'Driscoll said that when questioned about the video, Arps had described it as "awesome" and showed no empathy toward the victims. The judge said Arps had strong and unrepentant views about the Muslim community, and had compared himself to Rudolf Hess, a Nazi leader under Adolf Hitler.

Judge O'Driscoll said Arps had sent the video to 30 associates, and had also asked somebody to insert crosshairs and include a kill count.