JAILED HAMZA MOANS: STOP PICKING ON ME

HATE preacher Abu Hamza has complained of the tough conditions behind bars, it was revealed yesterday.

The cleric, serving seven years for inciting murder of non-Muslims, says he is the victim of a prison bullying campaign.

And he has even complained about the lack of soft furnishings in his cell.

An Islamic group has taken up the hook-handed preacher’s cause and is demanding human rights organisations help him.

Hamza’s “plight” at top secur­ity Belmarsh Prison in south-east London was revealed in a letter from his wife, Nagat Mostafa, to the al-Maqreze Centre for Historical Studies.

In her letter written in May, shortly after her husband had surgery to remove an inch of bone from his infected left arm stump, she asked them to do all they could.

The mother of seven of Hamza’s children wrote: “I would like to bring to your attention the current plight of my husband, currently imprisoned in Belmarsh.

“He was taken from his cell without any prior notification to have an operation to amputate a further part of his arm.

“Firstly, I must say that the reason that his arm needed further amputation was because of the removal of his prostheses, resulting in him constantly putting pressure on the remainder of his fore limbs.

“As there is no soft furnishing in his cell, he has been suffering considerable pain and discomfort.

“After surgery, before he had even recovered from the anaesthetic, he was returned to Belmarsh, only to be told he had to move from his cell to another one.

“He was so weak and unable to stand that he refused, resulting in him being put in solitary confinement.

“No post-operative medical care has been given and the only contact he has had is when food is given to him.” Nagat Mostafa, 46, went on: “My husband says that the racist bullying and Islamophobia against him have intensified,
making his life very difficult.

“As his wife and mother of his children, I urge you to look into his treatment and do all you can to ensure he is properly treated medically, psychologically and physically.”

The al-Maqreze Centre for Historical Studies has pledged to do all it can. Its leader, Hani Al-Sibai, was accused of praising the 7/7 London bombings. He denied this, saying his comments had been wrongly translated.

In a statement, the centre branded Hamza’s treatment “unjust” and said it feared he could die behind bars.
Hamza’s complaints come as prison officers warned they are sitting on a powder keg.

Steve Gough, vice-chairman of the Prison Officers’ Association, said when staff confront a Muslim prisoner in Belmarsh, he or she often find themselves surrounded by five or six other Muslim inmates.

He added: “The radical Mus­lims make the IRA look like kittens.”

The Prison Service said it could not comment on individual cases. But a spokeswoman said: “Every effort is made to ensure the rights of prisoners, whatever their religion, ethnic or cultural background, are respected.”

She added that prisoners could register any concerns all the way up to the independent Prisons and Probation Ombudsman or their MP.

Abu Hamza is estimated to have already cost his adopted country almost £4million in legal aid, state handouts and the bill for policing the crowd outside Finsbury Park Mosque in north London, where he preached his words of hate.
Costs of keeping him behind bars are around £50,000 a year.

Meanwhile his family get £680 a week in various benefits. They live in a £600,000 London home, which reportedly has been given a £25,000 make-over.

Muslims protest over pet food factory that could 'rain down' pork

A group of Muslims have opposed plans for a pet food factory to be built as possible pork emissions will violate their religious rights.

Butchers Pet Care could shelve plans for a factory in Coton Park, near Rugby, because angry Asian families have complained to their residents' association about pork smells drifting into their garden.

Muslim residents in the area also claim the pork will effectively "rain down" on their homes and gardens after the factory's 100ft chimney has pumped the meat extracts into the atmosphere.

The Coton Park Residential Association said they have received complaints from Muslims - who are directed to not eat pork by the Qur'an - and are taking the matter very seriously.

One family who live less than 100 yards from the proposed factory, but who did not wish to be identified, said: "A significant proportion of meats used in the pet foods processes are pig meat.

"Our religion expressly forbids us to consume pig meat in any form.

"Because of the way in which this meat material will leave the factory and give that the area can be 'rained upon' we will be consuming pork via inhalation of this 'rain'.

"Not only that but our clothes will be contaminated by pork."

Another family from the Coton Park housing estate said: "The owners of the proposed factory do not dispute the claim that meat extracts of pork will be pumped into the atmosphere via a 100ft chimney.

"They have said there will not be any chemical treatment proposed to treat the meat extracts before they leave the factory."

Association spokesperson Grant Scott said: "Several families have complained because of the smell of the pork, and also if the factory is cooking with it, pork particles and odour could rain down on them from the chimney at some point.

"It was something we hadn't taken on board before but it's definitely important and is a very delicate issue.

"If Muslims are unhappy about it, then Jews may complain for the same reason, and Hindus may complain because of their beliefs about cows being sacred animals.

"There is a significant Muslim element in our area, so there is a potential problem."

Another Muslim family added: "A Muslim is obliged to be clean spiritually, mentally and physically.

"Abstention from eating flesh of swine is one of the obligations a Muslim must observe to attain purity of the soul and of the human nature.

"Therefore, we believe that not only will we be contaminated but also our faith by the owners of this proposed pet food plant.

"In this country we are allowed the right to follow our religion and religious beliefs. By allowing this plan to go ahead our religious rights are being swept to one side for what appears to be economic greed.

"We feel sure that there are other areas where this factory could be built that would not impact on us or others like us."

The Environmental Health Agency are investigating the potential affects, with a decision about the factory's future due in September.

The pet food company said there is an 'almost 99% guarantee' the smell of pork would not reach the Coton Meadows residential area.

A statement from Butchers Pet Care said: "The majority of our natural products are beef and poultry.

"Pork ingredients account for less than 10% of our range.

"At Coton Park we plan to introduce state-of-the-art odour extraction through the chimney stack.

"An environmental impact report has already concluded that emissions at the proposed Coton Park site should not have an adverse impact on air quality and odour levels.

"We would like to reiterate that we do not burn any animal materials."

Terrorism training for retailers

Specialist police are training retailers in Greater Manchester in how to deal with a terrorist attack.

Using a specially commissioned video, the training, at Bolton's Reebok Stadium, is aimed at preparing shop staff for any potential attacks.

The fire and ambulance service are also involved in the training for 50 firms, which includes a simulated attack.

There is currently no specific terrorism threat to retailers in Greater Manchester, police said.

"The threat from terrorism is very real and everyone has a role to play in preventing it - particularly local businesses," Assistant Chief Constable Justine Curran, of Greater Manchester Police, said.

"These events are a unique opportunity for retailers to find out about how they should respond and what their incident management and contingency plans should consist of."

Officers from Greater Manchester Police's Counter Terrorism Unit (CTU) are leading the training.

Another session is scheduled to take place next month at Exchange Quays in Salford.

£70m promised for citizenship lessons in schools and English-speaking imams

Gordon Brown yesterday announced a four-fold increase in funding for a range of measures to help Muslim groups tackle violent extremism in their communities.

Over the next three years, the government will set aside £70m to support local authorities and community groups to improve how they deal with the threat of terrorism in their midst, he said.

Muslim-only jail could be built to protect the terrorists

Ministers are secretly considering plans for an all-Muslim prison after a series of attacks on jailed Islamic terrorists, it is claimed.

The prison could house the growing number of Muslim extremist inmates, it is said, after increasing signs of tension at the jails in which they are housed.

But critics said terrorists must not given the appearance of special status within the justice system.

On Sunday, a fire was started in the cell housing Hussein Osman, in Frankland high security prison in County Durham.

Osman was jailed this year for his role in the July 21 bomb plot. He tried to repeat the July 7 carnage by attempting to blow up a train at Shepherd's Bush, West London, in 2005.

Nobody was hurt in the cell fire, which is under investigation, but officials believe it may have been an attempt on his life.

It was the third incident in three weeks involving convicted Islamic terrorists at the prison.

Earlier this month Dhiren Barot, 34, an Al Qaeda plotter jailed for life last year, was seriously burned when he was scalded with boiling water.

There are also said to have been death threats against 25-year-old Omar Khyam, who was convicted for masterminding the fertiliser bomb plot and is also serving life for conspiracy to murder.

About 10 per cent of Frankland's inmates are thought to be Muslims.

Rows are said to have broken out among prisoners about where Muslim prayers should be held on the wing.

Prison insiders claim that the tensions were being made worse by the presence of far right extremists in the same cell block, Channel Four news reported last night. Officials at the

newly-formed Ministry of Justice have held private discussions about how to cope if the trend of Muslim inmates continues, Channel Four said.

One option would be to designate a Muslim- only prison where inmates, including convicted terrorists, would be less at risk of attack because of racial or religious tensions.

It would also be easier to cater for their religious needs in terms of diet and prayer.

Lawyers acting for suspected and convicted Islamic terrorists have already called for fanatics to be granted special status in jails as "prisoners of war".

Last week the controversial solicitor Mudassar Arani, whose firm has been paid more than £1million in legal aid to represent extremists, said her clients feel it is unfair that they must undergo frequent searches and curbs on meeting other imprisoned radicals.

Miss Arani, who claimed she was speaking on behalf of Barot, said: "Why should he suffer? Isn't it bad enough to have to serve your sentence? Why does he have to be placed in segregation? He asked me to mention prisoner of war status."

But Tory MP Patrick Mercer, a former Army commander, said: "They are not soldiers, they are not warriors. They have simply broken the law."

The Prison Service insisted it had no plans for a special Muslim jail.

A spokesman said: "We will continue to treat these prisoners like all other criminals. We will do what is necessary to protect them but we have no intention of creating special conditions for them."

Prisoners who believe they are in danger can be moved to a Vulnerable Prisoners' Unit.

The number of Muslim inmates has more than trebled in the last decade.

By the middle of 2005 there were around 7,500 Muslims behind bars - around 12 per cent of all UK prisoners.

Arab princesses kicked off British Airways plane to jeers and whistles after refusing to sit next to male strangers

Three Arab princesses were thrown off a packed British Airways flight after refusing to sit next to male passengers they didn't know.

The dispute - in which the three princesses from the ultra-conservative Qatar royal family demanded segregated seating - left the London-bound plane delayed on a baking Italian runway for nearly three hours.

Furious passengers whistled and clapped as the row intensified before the captain eventually ordered the women to be escorted off the plane.

The princesses, wearing traditional Arab dress, were returning from a day's shopping in Milan. They arrived at the city's Linate airport and boarded Heathrow-bound flight BA 563, which was due to take off at 4pm on Thursday.

The women, all relatives of the oil-rich emir of Qatar, Bader Bin Khalifa Al Thani, were booked into business class in a party of eight which included the emir and an entourage of cooks, servants and other staff.

After passengers had fastened their seat-belts and the plane had taxied on to the runway, two male passengers in the entourage got up to protest about where the women were sitting.

According to the customs of Qatar and other Gulf states, women are not allowed to mix with men who are not relatives.

Cabin crew tried to rearrange the seats but passengers travelling together refused to give up their allotted places. The captain tried to mediate but after more than two and a half hours of wrangling he ordered the bulk of their royal party off the plane.

It is understood that five of the eight - including the princesses and the men who left their seats to protest - were removed.

Police and diplomats from the Qatar consulate in Milan were also called in before the plane eventually took off. The rest of the Qatar party left Milan later on an Alitalia flight.

A BA spokesman said: "The people were offloaded because they failed to comply with safety instructions when the aircraft was taxiing. Two passengers stood up and refused to sit down."

A spokesman at the Qatar embassy in Rome said: "This was a private matter and we have nothing to say."

---

Schoolboy guilty of terrorism offence

A schoolboy who ran away from home to become a Muslim martyr and three students who recruited him are facing jail after a jury found them guilty of terrorism offences.

Mohammed Irfan Raja was supposed to be on his way to school in Essex when he ran away to join a group of radicalised students in Bradford.

	Mohammed Irfan Raja, 18, is facing jail after being convicted of having materials for terrorism

Raja, from Ilford, who was then 17, caught a bus to West Yorkshire as part of a plan to travel to Pakistan for terrorist training.

He left his parents a note which said: "If not in this (world) we will meet in the Garden of Paradise, Inshallah [God willing].

"The situation is such that you will live another 30 years, maybe 40 years. When death will befall you, maybe then you will appreciate what I have done now." A "PS" added that he was going abroad.

Raja's distraught parents called the police in February last year.

Yesterday Raja and three others were found guilty of possessing articles useful for terrorism after a three-month trial at the Old Bailey.

Officers found a "profusion of Islamic propaganda" on the schoolboy's computer which showed he had been talking to Bradford University students in a chatroom.

Raja's family managed to contact him on his mobile phone and persuaded him to telephone them from a phone box in Manchester.

His distraught mother went on a hunger strike until Raja agreed to return home.

"Irfan Raja was not as firm in his purpose as he hoped he would be, and as the people in Bradford hoped he would be," said Andrew Edis QC, prosecuting.

He had become involved with a group of radical first-year students who would allegedly meet at a student house in Bradford.

Raja had been introduced to Aitzaz Zafar, 20, from Rochdale, Lancs, over the internet by a 17-year-old student called Ali, from New Jersey, who was planning to join them.

	Akbar Butt: training camp

The court heard how Zafar and Akbar Butt, 19, from Southall, West London, discussed travel arrangements over the internet with a contact called "Imran" in Lahore, Pakistan.

Butt used a computer in Bradford University library to plan a trip to a training camp on Pakistan's North-West Frontier.

But Raja was arrested when he went home on February 26 and counter-terrorism police soon rounded up the Bradford ring, which also included Usman Ahmed Malik, 21, from Wolverhampton, West Mids.

During raids on their homes officers found material on their computers which included al-Qa'eda manuals, speeches by Osama bin Laden and justifications for suicide bombings.

The other members of the gang denied plotting to train for jihad.

The defendants, who had spent much of the trial laughing and giggling together, looked shocked as the verdicts were announced.

Jurors are still deliberating over a charge faced by a fourth Bradford university student Awaab Iqbal, 19.

Police found radical material on the young men's computers which included an image in which their heads had been superimposed on those of the September 11 hijackers.

Shark's skin for 'terrorist'

DOCTORS are to use skin made from SHARKS to treat the terror suspect horrifically burned in the Glasgow Airport attack.

Surgeons struggling to save Kafeel Ahmed, 27, have turned to a revolutionary treatment.

The expensive process involves a skin substitute made from shark cartilage and cow tendons. A source said: “Ahmed is being treated with these grafts because there is nothing left on his body that can be used.”

The Glasgow Royal Infirmary insider added: “He is receiving the latest technology to try to heal the skin — but there is still little hope of him surviving.

“In the past, pig skin was used to treat severe burns, but the shark skin treatment is used now.”

The process — a system called Integra Dermal Regeneration Template which costs more than £20,000 — involves doctors placing silicone implants with shark skin extracts on to the burns.

After two weeks, the outer protective silicone layer is removed and replaced with a layer of skin thinner than a graft.

A chemical in the shark skin prevents a scar from forming and allows the body to produce a skin-like tissue.

Surgeon Steve Jeffrey, who spent nine months in Australia perfecting the treatment, explained: “It tricks the body into creating new skin cells.”

Sources at the Royal Infirmary, where Ahmed is under armed guard, say he is in a coma. One said: “This person is effectively dead already.”

It is alleged Ahmed and Iraqi doctor Bilal Abdullah, 27, drove the flaming Jeep Cherokee into Glasgow Airport.

Muslim beats man to death as "Allah was telling him how to bring about world peace"

unfortunately he is not the first to get the idea that peace will come through the killing of the kuffar. From CourtNewsUK

BENOMOR:CRAZED IMMIGRANT BEAT MAN TO DEATH WITH HIS BARE HANDS HARLINGTON, MIDDSX.

A Tunisian immigrant beat a man to death with his bare hands and feet believing Allah was telling him how to bring about world peace, a court heard. Bearded Laidi Benomor, 30, attacked six people as he went on the rampage in the Harlington High Street near the Holiday Inn at Heathrow.

Preach in English, Muslim peer tells imams- No says the MCB (now there a surprise)

Mosques should be banned from recruiting foreign preachers unless they speak excellent English, according to a senior Muslim politician.
In an attempt to tackle Islamic extremism, Lord Ahmed of Rotherham called for imams from overseas who apply to preach in Britain to undergo strict language and "Britishness" tests in their countries of origin. Those who refused would be denied entry to the UK.

Inayat Bunglawala, a spokesman for the Muslim Council of Britain, called the plan "ludicrous and completely unworkable". He added: "The move to English needs to happen as an evolutionary process. Many elderly worshipers cannot understand English."

Mr Bunglawala is remaining true to form on this issue, he does not want to stop the Imams spouting hate and vitriol ad having the general public understand what is being said.

Mr Bunglawala speaks of an "evolutionary process", I do not think it is too difficult to understand what he means by that and it is certainly not anything to do with Imams speaking English.

Many cannot speak English says Mr Bunglawala, the obvious question is why not?, the answer is equally as obvious, Muslims have little or no intention of integrating into UK society and upholding it values thus they see no need to learn the language as they are committed to turning the UK into a Muslim state where, Arabic or Urdu would be spoken.

As for "lord ahmed" well this is a nice try at trying to gain credence with the British non Muslim especially after his recent series of political cock ups in this area but we all know where his true beliefs and intentions are nested.

Up to 4000 jihadists have attended training camps in Afghanistan, returned to Britain

Up to 4,000 extremists have attended terrorist training camps in Afghanistan before returning to Britain, security chiefs have revealed.

The alarming figure raises fresh questions about UK border controls and the capacity of the intelligence and security services to keep the country safe.

It demonstrates how Gordon Brown's plans for tighter checks on people entering Britain, unveiled last week, will come too late to keep out many dangerous individuals.

Afghanistan was the centre for al-Qaeda terrorist training between 1996, when the Taliban regime came to power, and the end of 2001, when America and Britain invaded. Since then the focus has shifted to areas of Pakistan along the Afghan border.

More than 400,000 journeys are made each year between Britain and Pakistan, the vast majority of them legitimate. It is not known how many travellers continue their journey overland into Afghanistan.

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A senior security source said of the al-Qaeda camps: "There are 3,000 to 4,000 people who went from the UK to Afghanistan and came back. The important question is, where are they now?" The figure is more than double the estimate of 1,600 which MI5 gave last autumn for the number of individuals actively involved in plotting terrorist attacks in the UK.

There are several possible explanations for the gap. Some of those who came back to Britain from Afghanistan may since have given up terrorist activities. Others may have left the UK to fight in Iraq.

MI5 and MI6 are working on the assumption, however, that al-Qaeda sees its British Muslim recruits as too valuable to be used in Iraq, and that most are ordered to return to their communities in Britain to establish autonomous terrorist "sleeper cells". Concerns over sleeper cells have been heightened since the failed "doctors' plot" attacks in London and Glasgow two weeks ago.

Estimates for the total number of extremists who have received weapons training and religious instruction at al-Qaeda camps, mostly in Afghanistan, have ranged from 20,000 to 70,000. Until now, intelligence sources have said it was impossible to estimate how many of those were British residents.

Terrorists who are believed to have trained in Afghanistan include Richard Reid, from Bromley, Kent, and Saajid Badat, from Gloucester, who both jailed for plotting to blow up aircraft with shoe bombs.

Andrew Rowe, a Londoner of Jamaican origin serving 15 years for terrorist offences, trained at one such camp in Afghanistan. Dhiren Barot, brought up in London and now serving 30 years for plotting a "dirty bomb" attack in Britain, trained in either Afghanistan or Pakistan.

Others believed to have trained in Pakistan include Mohammad Sidique Khan, the leader of the July 7 2005 bombers; Muktar Said Ibrahim, the leader of the failed July 21 bomb plot, and most members of the "Operation Crevice" plot to blow up nightclubs or shopping centres with fertiliser bombs. The Terrorism Act 2006 made it illegal to attend a terrorist training camp.

Last week, Ronald K Noble, secretary general of Interpol, accused the Government of failing to check people entering the country against a database of terrorist suspects.

Hours after The Sunday Telegraph revealed his criticism, the Prime Minister admitted that the sharing of data between countries needed to be improved "as a matter of urgency".

Details have emerged of a classified US intelligence report which says that al-Qaeda has regrouped along the Afghan-Pakistan border and is now in a stronger position that it was before the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York. John Kringen, head of the CIA analysis directorate, said: "We see more training. We see more money. We see more communications. We see that activity rising."

Dame Stella Rimington, the former MI5 chief, called last week for stronger border controls. She said: "We have realised that the free movement of people is a great concept but if you have people who would kill you, there have got to be a lot more checks.".

Documents discovered at abandoned al-Qaeda camps following the fall of the Taliban revealed how recruits were schooled in the use of small arms, as well as anti-armour and anti-aircraft weapons. Those selected for elite training would learn assassination skills or espionage techniques.

Forms and correspondence found at the ruined camps also showed that the operation was carefully-managed with paperwork in various languages including Arabic, Urdu, Tajik, Uzbek and Russian, as well as the locally spoken Pashto language.

Two men arrested under terror act

Two men have been arrested under the Terrorism Act after police found two 25-litre containers labelled "hydrogen peroxide" in a flat in Bristol.

The first man was originally arrested on Wednesday on suspicion of drug-related offences, said police.

Police suspect a link to terrorist activities and forensic tests are being carried out on the substances.

The second man was arrested after further investigations and police say there was no threat to public safety.

Assistant Chief Constable Steve Mortimore of Avon and Somerset police said: "These containers are marked hydrogen peroxide. I need to find out urgently what is this chemical inside.

"It all hinges on what is this chemical. Hydrogen peroxide has been linked to other terrorist incidents in the country."

The chemical was used in the 7 July bomb attacks in London in 2005.

'Vigilant'

Officers found the containers at the flat in Stapleton Road, Easton, following the first arrest in the Castle Park area of Bristol.

The men are being held at a police station in the Avon and Somerset area.

Officers have confirmed one is from Afghanistan and in his early 20s, while the other is Somali and in his early 50s.

A statement from the Avon and Somerset force said public safety was their "top priority".

"While this incident does not involve a specific threat to anybody, police are undertaking an extensive investigation."

Officers had been speaking to community leaders in the area to provide information and reassurance, it said.

ACC Steve Mortimore added: "Our message to the public for some time now has been that while we don't want people to be unduly afraid, everyone should be aware of the potential risks and be vigilant."

The Easton area, which lies several miles to the north of central Bristol, is home to a large Muslim population.

Kayse Mohammed, editor of The Somali Voice in Bristol, said: "We call on all Muslims and Somalis and the public to work with the police."

Honour killing men are jailed

THE father and uncle of honour killing victim Banaz Mahmod were jailed for life today for her “barbaric” murder.

Mahmod Mahmod, 54, was told he will serve a minimum of 20 years and his brother Ari, 51, will serve a minimum of 23 years.

A third killer Mohamad Hama, 30, was told he would spend at least 17 years behind bars.

Banaz, 20, was raped and tortured before succumbing to an agonising death.

Hama and three other men who have left the country, killed her during two hours of torture at her home.

Her death had been ordered by her Iraqi Kurd father and uncle after her affair with fellow Kurd Rahmat Sulemani, 29, was discovered.

Banaz asked police for help four times but was not taken seriously.

She even gave officers a list of five people she suspected would harm her and Mr Sulemani.

After being taken to hospital following a previous attempt on her life, Mr Sulemani recorded her fears on his mobile phone.

The film was played in court and helped convict her killers from beyond the grave.

She disappeared in January last year, and her body was found 100 miles away buried in a suitcase in a garden in Birmingham three months later.

Last month Mahmod and Ari, of Mitcham, south London, were found guilty of murder after the jury were told they considered Banaz had shamed the family honour by falling in love with the wrong man.

Hama, 30, of West Norwood, south London, pleaded guilty to murder before the trial.

Prosecutor Victor Temple QC told the court Hama confessed to a friend that Banaz’s ordeal lasted two hours and she was subjected to rape and other degrading sexual acts.

Banaz was garrotted for five minutes but took half an hour to die as Hama stamped on her neck to “let her soul out”.

Five police officers face the threat of disciplinary action as a result of the trial.

Two-hour rape and torture of honour killing girl murdered by her family

Judge asks woman to lift her veil in court

A judge asked a woman to lift her full Muslim veil, three weeks after a Manchester magistrate walked out of her previous hearing because her face was covered.

District Judge Diana Baker allowed Zoobia Hussain, aged 32, to give evidence from behind a screen in her trial at Manchester Magistrates' Court on a charge of criminal damage.

Judge Baker said: "I understand the importance to a Muslim woman of being able to wear her veil because that is an important part of her cultural and religious identity.

"But when I make an assessment of people giving evidence I look at their facial expressions and I can only see Mrs Hussain's eyes.

"My view is that when giving evidence it is important for me in my judicial decision-making role to be able to see her face."

She said Hussain could sit behind a screen so that the male prosecutor and clerk could not see her face.

Prosecutor Nicholas Vitti said he accepted the need for special measures, but made clear he was "not happy" he could not see Hussain's face.

Mother-of-five Hussain was found guilty of causing £1,500 of criminal damage to a council house in Longsight after her family was thrown out for rent arrears in January. Graffiti was sprayed on the walls and there were holes in the doors.

The long-term benefit claimant denied she had trashed the property out of spite when she was evicted.

She is to be sentenced at a later date.

Veiled protest as race-hate Muslims are jailed

Dozens of veiled women gathered outside the Old Bailey to protest against the jail sentences given to four Muslim men for encouraging terrorism.

Mizanur Rahman, 24, Umran Javed, 27, and Abdul Muhid, 25, were each jailed for six years for inciting murder and racial hatred during a demonstration against cartoons of Mohammed.

around 40 demonstrators - most hiding their faces - chanted and held placards.

Among them were a gaggle of women in burkas, who held up a sign which read: "British police go to hell".

Police officers stood by as the group were kept behind barriers across the road.

Judge Brian Barker, the Common Serjeant of London, told the four men their words had been designed to encourage murder and terrorism.

Women in hijabs 'need sunlight or risk illness'

Muslim women who wear the hijab are at risk of serious illness because they do not get enough sun, doctors have warned.

They said an alarming number of women who cover their skin are suffering bone deficiencies over a lack of vitamin D.

Most of the body's vitamin D - which prevents rickets - is obtained through sunlight acting on the skin. Only a little comes from food.

Doctors told a London conference today that people with dark pigment are at risk because of "cultural reasons" and because they are less efficient at producing the vitamin.

The bone disorder rickets has now broken out in young Muslim children as babies are not getting enough calcium from mothers' breast milk.

The National Health Service is launching a campaign aimed at Muslim women, particularly Bangladeshi, Pakistani and Somalis, to encourage them to increase their vitamin D intake.

The picture accompanying this story actually depicts a woman in a niqab, not a hijab.

Traffic cams in war on terror

POLICE were yesterday granted powers to use traffic cameras in the fight against terrorism.

Ministers waived the 1998 Data Protection Act to allow images to be beamed straight to Scotland Yard.

Cops have been granted access to London’s 1,500 congestion charge cameras.

It means officers can watch “real time” pictures of every car entering the city.

The owner can be identified in seconds through number-plate recognition.

Police used the cameras to trace the routes of the two Mercedes used in the attempted June 29 bomb attacks in the capital. Under the new rules, the information can be used only for national security — and NOT to fight ordinary crime.

Home Office minister Tony McNulty said last night: “The Metropolitan Police believe it’s necessary due to the enduring, vehicle-borne terrorist threat to London.”

But Lib Dem Home Affairs spokesman Nick Clegg accused the Government of using the London cameras as a “Trojan Horse” to secure unprecedented access to information on motorists’ movements

Four men jailed over cartoon demo

Four men have been jailed for their part in protests outside the Danish embassy in London, against cartoons satirising the Prophet Muhammad.

Mizanur Rahman, 24, Umran Javed, 27, and Abdul Muhid, 24, were each jailed for six years for soliciting to murder after telling a crowd to bomb the UK.

A fourth man, Abdul Saleem, 32, was jailed for four years for stirring up racial hatred at the protest in 2006.

The men, from London and Birmingham, were convicted at the Old Bailey.

Judge Brian Barker said their words had been designed to encourage murder and terrorism.

About 300 protestors marched outside the Danish embassy in February last year after cartoons satirising Muhammad were published in newspapers in Denmark and other European countries.

Outside the sentencing hearing on Wednesday, a group of around 40 demonstrators chanted and waved placards.

Extremists: from left, Abdul Muhid, Abdul Saleem, Umran Javed and Mizanur Rahman

Q&A: The Muhammad cartoons row

Jail for the Muslim with blueprint for rocket

With a baby he was ready to offer as a "martyr."

From the Daily Mail

A Muslim who tried to smuggle blueprints for home-made rockets into Britain smiled as he was jailed for three-andahalf years yesterday.

Yassin Nassari was stopped by police with his wife and five-month-old son at Luton airport after an easyJet flight from Amsterdam.

The 28-year-old from Ealing had a laptop containing bomb recipes while his wife Bouchra El-Hor had a letter offering their baby as a "martyr".

Nassari, head of the Islamic Society at the University of Westminster, was convicted last week of possessing a document likely to be useful to terrorists.

Judge Gerald Gordon said at the Old Bailey that he accepted Nassari did not plan to make use of the extremist material.

But he added: "I have come to the conclusion that sadly, like a number of other young Muslims, you have somehow been indoctrinated into beliefs which support the use of terrorism by others."

Somehow! If only they could figure out how these adherents of the Religion of Peace keep getting their religion so terribly, terribly wrong! Maybe it's something in the water, Judge Gordon!

4,000 are UK terror suspects

THE number of suspected Muslim terrorists in the UK has multiplied nearly FOUR TIMES in seven months, security chiefs have been told.


A staggering 2,000 active terrorists are under watch in Britain.And there are another 2,000 sympathisers.

It is a massive rise from the 1,200 warned about by MI5’s former head seven months ago.

The chiefs of MI5, Scotland Yard and MI6 were told the figure last week.

Last night new Security Minister Lord West said: “This is a real threat to this nation and we have got to somehow confront it. The scale of this whole thing is quite dramatic.”

Gordon Brown wants a law change so suspects are held indefinitely and go before a judge every seven days. He is calling for a cross-party deal to avoid Commons defeat.

Islamist Attacked In Prison

News from Focus news agency reveals that Barot's lawyer, Mudassar Arani has told Channel 4 News that Barot has been attacked with hot oil and water and is "scarred for life". Barot was scalded on his head and back, and has lost all the "hair on his head and he's got scarring all over his face up to his neck."

Miss Arani said: "He should have, and other Muslim prisoners should be, given differential treatment because they are subjected to differential treatment within the prison system."

Airports crippled by security bill

HE aviation industry says it cannot meet the spiralling cost of securing UK airports against terror threats.

The industry claims security costs have risen by 150 per cent since new measures were brought in following the September 11 attacks in 2001.

The British Air Transport Association said it was a problem for the entire industry.

A spokesman told the BBC: “We want high security standards, implemented consistently across the world so that passengers are not confused or cynical about the processes as some are today.

“But we also expect a level playing field for our very competitive airline industry - and that means a change in approach to the funding of security.”

Airports cover all security costs themselves, but say this is simply not
sustainable.

Airports want the Government to contribute but say ministers insist the aviation industry must foot the bill.

Since 9/11, the Government has introduced restrictions on hand baggage, a ban on liquids on board and, more recently, measures to move vehicles further away from terminal buildings.

Geoff Muirhead, chief executive of Manchester Airport group, said it was not fair that the Government insisted on stringent security measures but did not help with funding.

He said the cost of increased security had wiped out all its profits.

Mr Muirhead said the group had spent an extra £20m on security since the London bombings on July 7 2005.

It has also had to pay for 200 more security staff, new equipment and extra for direct policing.

'Lock up terrorists for good'

POLICE chiefs are demanding the power to lock up terror suspects indefinitely.

The Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) has called for some suspects to be held for “as long as it takes”.

Tony Blair was defeated in the Commons two years ago when he tried to introduce a 90-day detention period. Instead MPs backed an increase to just 28 days.

But Acpo president Ken Jones said police were struggling to operate within the 28-day limit, stressing the global scale of terror investigations and the need to arrest suspects early.

He said: “We are now arguing for judicially supervised detention for as long as it takes.

“We are up against the buffers on the 28-day limit.

“We understand people will be concerned and nervous, but we need to create a system with sufficient judicial checks and balances which holds people, but no longer than a day necessary.”

The idea is said to have been discussed with Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who has signalled his intention to re-visit the subject of detention without trial this year.

Building Global Jihad in Prison

AN al-Qaeda fanatic jailed for inciting murder online was caught making a website urging terror attacks - from his cell in Britain's most secure prison.

Tariq Al-Daour, 21, used a smuggled mobile phone and modem lead to access the internet on a laptop issued by the Prison Service to help him prepare his court case.

The laptop was seized after a violent struggle when prison officers suspected he was misusing it and the hate-filled website called Global Jihad was found.

The Home Office has launched an urgent inquiry to discover how the mobile was smuggled into Belmarsh's High Security Unit, which holds the country's most dangerous inmates.

They fear Al-Daour may have used it to contact other al-Qaeda terrorists and are scrutinising calls he made.

A senior prison source said yesterday: "It is frightening that an al-Qaeda prisoner was able to build an extremist website within Britain's supposedly most secure jail.

"This is a massive security breach. It's a real wake-up call.

"The fact he was inside for building terror websites means he should have been watched like a hawk.

"A mobile phone should never have managed to end up in the High Security Unit in the first place.

"Prisoners are strip-searched when they enter and leave. The fear is a corrupt member of staff got the phone in."

Al-Daour's website - built while he was on trial - was full of al-Qaeda propaganda calling on extremists to wage war on the West.

The source said: "The website was not finished, but it wasn't far off.

"He must have been working on it for some time as there were a lot of pages and text. It is staggering that he was able to work undetected."

Two weeks ago, Al-Daour, born in the United Arab Emirates, and two fellow extremists were jailed for six-and-a-half-years for inciting terrorist murder using the internet.

They ran a series of jihad websites containing films of beheadings and bomb-making tips. The cyber jihadis were the first to be convicted in the UK of inciting terror online.

Al-Daour's laptop was seized at the South London jail in May. He refused to hand it over, sparking a vicious riot in which four officers were battered with pool cues by Al-Daour and other al-Qaeda prisoners.

The Ministry for Justice denied a mobile phone had been found, but refused to discuss how illegal material found its way on to the laptop.

28 LAPTOPS worth £1,000 each were given to terror suspects at Belmarsh to access legal papers, the Mirror revealed last year.

Under the Access to Justice scheme, prisoners get laptops to prepare their court cases. Internet access can be obtained using a mobile phone.

It is not the first time a mobile has been found on the High Security Unit. Earlier this year, a prisoner was caught chatting on one on the unit. It is understood he was moved to a new prison after being convicted.

There are around 125 Muslim terror suspects in the jail.

Extremists' solicitor is slammed

A MONEYBAGS Muslim solicitor, who represented two of the failed suicide bombers, was tongue-lashed in court by a judge yesterday.

Mudassar Arani, 43, was accused of launching a “relentless and blistering attack” on staff at Belmarsh Prison where her clients Muktar Ibrahim and Yassin Omar were held.

Mr Justice Fulford added the complaints over prison visits were a “smokescreen” that delayed the trial.

Ms Arani specialises in representing Islamic extremists, including reviled hook-handed cleric Abu Hamza.

Her West London-based company, Arani and Co, got £1.6MILLION in legal aid between 2004 and 2007, according to official figures.

Yesterday, she sat in court laughing with the terrorists before Mr Fulford gave them 40 years each.

The judge said: “The number of visits afforded to that firm has been considerable. The prison officials did all they could in highly difficult circumstances.

“Arani & Co launched a relentless and blistering attack on some of the staff at HMP Belmarsh. I consider the complaints were no more than a smokescreen.”

It emerged during the trial that Ms Arani sent £600 and a “with love” card to one of the 21/7 suspects in Belmarsh.

It was claimed this was to be passed to Hamza, who is serving seven years in Belmarsh for spreading terrorist propaganda.

Yesterday, Ms Arani said the judge’s comments were “inappropriate”. But a Parliamentary committee has called her a “disgrace”.

Abu Hamza fights US extradition

Controversial Muslim cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri should not be extradited from the UK to face terror charges in the US, a court has been told.

Lawyers for Abu Hamza, 49, from west London, told a hearing in London that US evidence had been gained through torture and should not be used.

Prosecutor Hugo Keith denied the claim, saying it would use phone records and the cleric's own admission at a trial.

Abu Hamza is serving seven years for inciting murder and race hate.

The US government is seeking his extradition and trial on charges of conspiring to take Western hostages in Yemen, funding terrorism, and organising a "terrorist training camp" in Oregon between 1998 and 2000.

The 11 charges carry a potential jail sentence of 100 years.

jihad

Preliminary extradition proceedings took place in May and the full hearing at Westminster Magistrates' Court is expected to last several days.

Abu Hamza appeared via video link from London's Belmarsh prison, where he is serving his sentence.

At the earlier hearings, the US government accused Abu Hamza of being part of a "global conspiracy to wage Jihad against the US and other Western countries".

At an earlier hearing, Mr Keith said that a group of Westerners including 12 Britons, two Americans and two Australians were abducted in Yemen in 1998, partly in order to gain the release of Abu Hamza's stepson Mohsen Ghailan and five others.

The hearing was told that Abu Hamza gave advice to the hostage-takers and provided them with a satellite phone.

Four of the captives - Britons Margaret Whitehouse, 52, a teacher from Hampshire, Ruth Williamson, 34, an NHS employee from Edinburgh, university lecturer Peter Rowe, 60, from Durham, and Australian Andrew Thirsk - were killed after Yemeni authorities tried to rescue them.

Egyptian-born Abu Hamza, who preached at Finsbury Park Mosque, in north London, was convicted in February 2006 of 11 of 15 charges he faced in the UK.

In addition to being jailed for soliciting murder, he was also found guilty of inciting racial hatred, possessing "threatening, abusive or insulting recordings" and for having a document useful to terrorists.

The extradition hearing continues.

Police plea on genital mutilation

The Metropolitan Police is offering a £20,000 reward for information which would bring to justice anyone involved in female genital mutilation.

The campaign is being launched at the start of the summer holidays, during which young girls - mainly from African communities - are thought most at risk.

Mutilation involves the partial or total removal of external female genitalia for cultural reasons.

Up to 7,000 girls in the UK are seen as at risk of this form of circumcision.

The long summer holiday is seen as the most likely time for parents to seek the procedure for their daughter as she has time to recover from what is usually a brutal ordeal before returning to school.

She can be sent abroad for the treatment, but police say they know it is also being carried out within the UK itself.

This is child abuse. It is not an attack on anyone's culture, it is an attack on anyone who commits this horrendous abuse of children Alastair Jeffrey Metropolitan Police

A new law was introduced in 2003, which not only repeated 1985 legislation banning the procedure, but also criminalised those who took a child outside the country for mutilation to be performed.

No-one has been prosecuted under the new legislation.

"It's a hidden act," said Alastair Jeffrey, head of the Child Abuse Investigation Command, as he announced the reward. "And that's why it's so hard to uncover.

"This is child abuse. It is not an attack on anyone's culture, it is an attack on anyone who commits this horrendous abuse of children."

Preserving purity

The police said they were anxious not to arrive at a situation where young girls returning from holidays in Africa were routinely checked at airports, and that they desperately needed grassroots support to stamp out the practice.

I'm sure my mother thought she was doing me a favour - and in any case, I don't believe she had much choice Waris Dirie Mutilation campaigner

Female genital mutilation is practised in a number of mainly - although not exclusively - Muslim African communities, and the tradition can travel when immigrants settle abroad.

Islamic scholars say it has no justification in the Koran, and several have recently spoken out against the practice.

Yet many families apparently believe it is an essential part of initiation into adulthood and the only way to ensure their daughter is seen as "pure" and thus desirable by potential husbands.

One London youth worker within the Somali community said this was so ingrained that she had even come across young women who had wanted to be circumcised.

"You want to be part of the community," said Leyla Hussein. "You want to be married, and you don't want to be considered dirty."

There are several types of mutilation, ranging from a minor piercing of the clitoris to the complete removal of all the external genitalia.

In some cases, what remains is then stitched up with coarse thread - leaving a tiny hole, perhaps just the size of a matchstick, for urinating and menstruation.

The procedure is in most cases carried out by older women who have no medical training. Anaesthetic is rarely used and the cuts are sometimes made with the most basic of tools such as razors or even pieces of glass.

It can have a range of short and long-term consequences including infection, incontinence and infertility, as well as causing significant psychological damage.

And it can be fatal.

Egypt, where as many as 90% of women have been circumcised, has just announced a full ban on the practice after a 12-year-old girl died last month.

'My mother held me down'

Al-Qaeda condemns Rushdie honour

Osama Bin Laden's deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri, has threatened to retaliate against Britain for giving a knighthood to novelist Salman Rushdie.

The 20-minute audiotape was posted on a website used by Islamic militants.

A Downing Street spokesman said: "We will not allow terrorists to undermine the British way of life."

Sir Salman's book The Satanic Verses sparked protests by Muslims around the world and led to Iran issuing a fatwa in 1989, ordering his execution.

In a 20-minute recording, the al-Qaeda second-in-command said the group was preparing a "very precise response" to the British knighthood.

Addressing Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Zawahiri said: "I say to Blair's successor that the policy of your predecessor drew catastrophes in Afghanistan and Iraq and even in the centre of London."

In the speech, entitled Malicious Britain and its Indian Slaves, Zawahiri was quoted as warning Mr Brown: "If you did not learn the lesson then we are ready to repeat it, God willing, until we are sure you have fully understood."

The former Egyptian surgeon, who is believed to be the architect of the al-Qaeda ideology, said Britain's award for Indian-born Sir Salman was an insult to Islam.

The UK Foreign Office said in response to the tape that the author's knighthood was a reflection of his contribution to literature.

"The government has already made clear that Rushdie's honour was not intended as an insult to Islam or the Prophet Muhammad," said a spokesman.

The Foreign Office said it would maintain efforts to thwart terrorists.

"We will continue to tackle the threat from international terrorism as a priority in order to prevent the risk of attacks on British interests at home and overseas, including from al-Qaeda," a spokesman said.http://www.coxandforkum.com/

Three guilty over 21/7 bomb plot

Three men have been found guilty of plotting to carry out suicide bombings on London's transport network on 21 July 2005.

Muktar Said Ibrahim, 29, Yassin Omar, 26, and Ramzi Mohammed, 25, were convicted of conspiracy to murder.

Verdicts on three other defendants, who all deny charges against them, are still being considered by the jury.

Woolwich Crown Court heard how the cell tried to set off bombs on the Tube and a bus, two weeks after the 7/7 attacks.

Majority verdict

The suspects had claimed the bombs were fakes, and their actions had been intended as a protest against the war in Iraq.

After unanimously returning three guilty verdicts against Ibrahim, Omar and Mohammed, jurors were sent out to continue their deliberations on the three other defendants, Hussain Osman, 28, Manfo Kwaku Asiedu, 34, and Adel Yahya, 24.

The judge, Mr Justice Fulford QC, said he would accept a majority verdict of 10-to-2.

Mohammed had targeted a train at Oval station in south London, Omar was on board a train at Warren Street in central London and Ibrahim had boarded a bus in Hackney, east London.

The six men have been on trial for six months.

The trial heard that dozens of people would have been killed if the bombs, which were made of a similar hydrogen peroxide mixture used by the 7 July attackers, had detonated properly.

Mohammed and Ibrahim were captured a week later at a flat in west London.

Omar was arrested in Birmingham after travelling there disguised as a woman in a burka.

Nigel Sweeney QC, prosecutor, had told the trial the men chose a date "just 14 days after the carnage of July 7".

But the trial heard evidence that the conspiracy "had been in existence long before the events of July 7" and was not a "hastily-arranged copycat" operation.

Mr Sweeney said: "The failure of those bombs to explode owed nothing to the intention of these defendants, rather it was simply the good fortune of the travelling public that day that they were spared."

Profile of the July 21 plotters

Muslim juror 'listened to iPod under headscarf during murder trial'

A Muslim woman juror is facing a possible jail sentence after she was arrested in court for apparently listening to an iPod under a headscarf during a murder trial.

She is said to have used a traditional hijab headscarf to hide earphones to her MP3 player while ignoring vital evidence from a retired businessman who brutally bludgeoned his disabled wife to death.
She has been accused of contempt, an offence which can carry an unlimited fine and indefinite imprisonment.
A 13-day news blackout, imposed by the trial judge, was lifted today following the killer's conviction at London's Blackfriars Crown Court.

Now what some lawyers believe may be an unprecedented contempt case can be revealed.

It can also be revealed that before last Wednesday's dramatic developments, the woman - in her early twenties and unidentified for legal reasons - had repeatedly tried to avoid jury service.
Weeks earlier she managed to postpone her first summons. She then answered a second, only to successfully plead toothache two days later.
When the third arrived and she learnt she had been selected for a trial that could last up to five weeks, she asked to be excused so she could go job hunting.

She mentioned a nursery nursing course she was interested in but after failing to provide details, she was ordered to serve.
The juror, along with five other women and six men, then took an oath to try pensioner Alan Wicks "on the evidence" for allegedly bludgeoning his wife to death after 50 years of marriage.
Problems started the next day with the first of a number of late arrivals at court, prompting Judge Roger Chapple to repeatedly asked her to change her ways.

The woman not only continued to be late but left lawyers wondering whether she was "in a world of her own". Some of those in court became convinced she was doodling instead of reading important documentary exhibits distributed to her and fellow jurors. Neither did she bother putting them away into lever arch files provided for the purpose.
Then, on Tuesday last week, prosecutor Peter Clarke QC asked for her to be discharged.
But the judge rejected his application, pointing out the "random selection of jurors was a very important aspect of the trial process".

That meant discharges should follow only for "very, very serious ...improper behaviour" and then not until "necessity" had been demonstrated.
One day later, matters allegedly took a turn for the worse.

First, a member of the defence team thought she caught a brief glimpse of a wire under the woman's head covering.
It also emerged that on several occasions during the trial the judge believed he could hear the faintest of "tinny music" in the background - but dismissed it as his imagination.

Finally, another woman juror sent him a lunchtime note, which apparently confirmed his suspicions but left the rest of the court stunned.

She claimed her colleague had been secretly listening to her MP3 player during the defendant's evidence. After further legal submissions, the Muslim juror was called into court on her own and informed of the allegation.
The judge warned that her behaviour, if proved, would not just give "cause for concern" but would amount to "contempt of court".
"You are going to be discharged from this jury. You will play no further role." He also told her she would be arrested.

A police officer then stepped forward and escorted her from court.

Outside, she was searched and the MP3 player found and confiscated.

She was later bailed until July 23, when her case has been listed for a directions hearing before Blackfriars' senior resident judge Aidan Marron QC.
Outside court, barrister Benn Maguire, another member of the prosecution team, said: "It is unique for all those who are connected with this court to experience a situation where the juror is suspected of listening to a MP3 player under her Islamic headgear.

"Also, it is exceptional for a juror to appear entirely uninterested in the evidence.

"It is a bad alleged contempt. If contempt is upheld, I would have thought that prison would be the likely outcome," he said.

Muslims declare sovereignty over U.S., UK

Across town from the site of the recent attempted car-bomb attacks, several thousand Muslims gathered in front of the London Central Mosque to applaud fiery preachers prophesying the overthrow of the British government – a future vision that encompasses an Islamic takeover of the White House and the rule of the Quran over America.

"One day my dear Muslims," shouted Anjem Choudary, "Islam will govern Britain!"

Hizb Ut-Tahrir and the Denial of the Day

The Telegraph reveals a possible connection between the London/Glasgow terrorists and the sinister Hizb ut-Tahrir organization in Cambridge:

It is an innocent looking semi-detached property in the university city of Cambridge from where an Islamic charity, dedicated to peace and interfaith friendship, operates. The leaders of the Islamic Academy are so moderate that they were recently invited to share a platform with Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Yet there are growing suspicions that this suburban house is where the origins of the suspected London and Glasgow bomb plots may lie, The Sunday Telegraph can reveal.

The links between Bilal Abdullah, Kafeel Ahmed and others arrested in connection with the alleged plot came as shock to the unsuspecting congregation who gathered to pray at the Islamic Academy on Friday.

Security sources have confirmed to this newspaper their interest in the activities of several of the terror plot suspects in Cambridge. Sheikh Abdul Mabud, the Academy’s chief executive, refused to discuss whether he had been contacted by police.

The academy’s unwitting connection to these events may have begun in May 2004, with Kafeel Ahmed, 27, who is under police guard in hospital suffering from 90 per cent burns sustained in the botched Glasgow attack. Between May 2004 and August 2005, as a PhD Student at Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge, he rented a room above the academy’s offices and prayer chamber. In the room next door, it can be revealed, was another lodger: the Cambridge organiser for Hizb ut-Tahrir (HT), the radical Islamist movement which has caused such alarm that David Cameron, the Conservative leader, called on Wednesday for it to be banned.

And in the denial of the day, Sejad Mekic, imam of the Cambridge mosque attended by Bilal Abdullah, gave a sermon “condemning all acts of terror”—then proceeded to say that he’s not sure there really was a terror attack in Glasgow.

It might have just been some petrol salesmen who had a car accident.

However, he later said he had doubts that the incident at Glasgow airport was a terrorist attack, saying it could have been a car accident. “I still haven’t made my conclusion,” he said. salesman off the year........not
When it was pointed out that containers of petrol were reportedly found in the car, he said: “Maybe they used to sell petrol.”

Perception vs. Reality

We all know that Muslims in the UK feel persecuted. They tell us so, frequently. But The Telegraph looks at the evidence and comes to a different conclusion.

The arrest of Middle Eastern medics in connection with the car bombings raises questions about the profile of terrorist suspects and who should be stopped and questioned.

There is a powerful public perception that men of Asian, Middle Eastern or north African appearance, many of whom will be Muslims, are far more likely than white people to be stopped and questioned or searched by police under anti-terror legislation.

Many people in ethnic minority communities believe this amounts to an unofficial use of racial “profiling”, targeting Muslims. Police denials that they stereotype certain ethnic groups and the insistence of transport officials that airport security checks are random fall on deaf ears. The suspicions have only been strengthened by some comments by leading police figures.

The former Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Lord Stevens, declared that terrorism was a problem for the Muslim community and backed profiling. Ian Johnston, the head of British Transport Police, suggested that “we should not waste time searching old white ladies”.

Police chiefs believe that stopping pedestrians and vehicles under section 44 of the Terrorism Act 2000 (TACT), has a role to play in disrupting potential terror activity. This is virtually impossible to prove, however, and some senior officers fear the perception of discrimination is so corrosive it will deter many in the Muslim community from helping police.

The evidence is limited. Department for Transport sources suggest airport security checks are “random” but no data is available on who is stopped and questioned to prove or disprove this assertion. TACT stops are running at between 40,000 and 50,000 a year - a far lower level than “ordinary” criminal stop and search.

The legislation allows police in an area designated by chief officers as facing a terror threat to stop and search pedestrians or cars and their occupants without needing the reasonable grounds for suspicion of an offence which are necessary for an “ordinary” stop.

In the 12 months to last September, there were 22,672 section 44 stops in London, which resulted in only 27 terror arrests. But section 44 was not designed primarily to achieve arrests but to disrupt potential terror activity.

Are anti-terror stops used unfairly against Asian people? They are more likely to be stopped but a recent report by the Metropolitan Police Authority (MPA), which rarely misses any evidence of discrimination by the force it governs, suggests the perception of significant unfairness is not supported by the statistics.

Ceremony to mark 7/7 anniversary

The second anniversary of the 7 July London suicide bombings which killed 52 people has been marked with a ceremony at a memorial garden to the victims.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown, London mayor Ken Livingstone and Olympics and London Minister Tessa Jowell joined relatives at King's Cross.

Hundreds of people were injured in the attacks on three Tube trains and a bus.

Some victims claim they are struggling to deal with a complex and unwieldy compensation system.

The memorial ceremony was held at King's Cross station shortly before 0900 BST, when the first bomb exploded two years ago.

The prime minister laid a wreath bearing the handwritten message: "In remembrance and with deepest sympathy."

John Falding, who lost his partner Anat Rosenberg in the Tavistock Square bus bomb, said events like Saturday's helped him to cope.

"I certainly found that last year I gained a lot of strength from it. Otherwise I would find myself sitting at home feeling mawkish."

Mr Falding said those caught up in the 7 July attacks had been particularly affected by the recent suspected failed car bombs in London and Glasgow, but added: "The more this goes on, the more they will realise how futile their efforts are.

"The more London shows its bravery the more we show this is our victory."

Quiet tribute

Other officials at the ceremony were London transport commissioner Peter Hendy and Tim O'Toole, managing director of London Underground.

The Mayor of Paris, Bertrand Delanoe - in London for the Tour de France Grand Depart - also attended.

He laid a wreath on behalf of the people of Paris whom he said "stood at one with London in our fight to protect the universal values of peace and democracy".

Mr Livingstone's message read: "The bombers tried to divide us and they failed.

"It is you we remember and we will build a city worthy of your memory - a city in which it is the people who are its greatness, not its buildings or the things that pass."

The officials bowed their heads in silence for several minutes, before relatives of the bomb victims came forward to lay their own tributes.

Organisers said there would be no national silence and, in line with the wishes of families, no large public event.

The act of remembrance comes as police and security services are on heightened alert, with a number of high-profile events such as Wimbledon, the Live Earth concert and the first stage of the Tour de France taking place in London.

'Fed up'

It has emerged that 118 out of 614 compensation claims made by victims have not yet been fully resolved.

The Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority said the outstanding claims were the most serious ones, involving complicated calculations of loss of earnings and estimates for future care.

The authority denied it had been "sitting on applications" for two years and said it was always looking at how to make the system easier.

A total of £4.2m has been paid out so far.

Ms Jowell told BBC News 24 the claims had been dealt with "as swiftly as the individual circumstances of these claims allow".

However, she said the government was considering an overhaul of the compensation system.

Fury at bill for terror suspect

FURY erupted yesterday as it was revealed the NHS is lavishing more than £5,000 a day battling to save the suspected car bomber who turned himself into a human torch at Glasgow airport.

The whopping bill for specialist treatment is being run up even though Kafeel Ahmed’s chances of survival are said to be “practically zero”.

The cost to taxpayers emerged as Scotland Yard last night brought the first charges over the attempted bomb blitz on the UK a week ago.

The Crown Prosecution Service said Ahmed’s alleged accomplice — an Iraqi doctor who worked at the hospital he was taken to — will appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court this morning.

Dr Bilal Abdullah, 27, is accused of plotting last Saturday’s Glasgow horror AND two failed car bombs the day before in London’s West End.

Alleged would-be suicide bomber Ahmed, 27 — accused of trying to kill holidaymakers by ramming a blazing Jeep Cherokee into Glasgow’s terminal — suffered 90 per cent burns.

Hospital treatment, skin grafts and round-the-clock nursing care have already cost a massive £36,000.

Every day up to 15 cops are on armed guard at the hospital — costing taxpayers thousands MORE.

A source at Paisley’s Royal Alexandra Hospital said: “It’s ironic considering he is accused of wanting to die. A lot of people think he should have been left to burn.”

Yesterday Ahmed was transferred to Glasgow Royal Infirmary’s specialist unit — as five more Indian doctors were quizzed in Australia over the UK terror attacks.

While consultants were deciding which other costly operations to perform on Ahmed, fresh details emerged about his past.

He was initially thought to be a medical doctor like alleged Jeep bomb accomplice Dr Abdullah. But it was revealed his doctorate is in aeronautical engineering.

Before allegedly setting fire to himself he warned his family in Bangalore, India, that he was going to be out of touch — because he was working on a hush-hush GLOBAL WARMING project.

He also called his parents to tell them an “earlier presentation” had flopped — believed to be a reference to the two car bombs that failed to go off in London’s West End the day before.

On his last trip back to Bangalore — on May 5 — he had told relatives: “I am involved in a large scale confidential project about global warming. The project has to be started in the United Kingdom.

“I will not be available by any means — phone or internet — for a week. So, please do not worry.”

In his call hours before the Glasgow incident he informed his mum Dr Zakia Ahmed and sister Sadia: “I told you earlier that sometime in future I will be inaccessible for a week. The time has come now.”

Ahmed is among EIGHT suspected terror plotters. The others are under arrest — one of them in Australia. All are linked to the NHS.

Four are doctors. They include Ahmed’s brother Dr Sabeel Ahmed, 26, who works at Halton Hospital in Runcorn, Cheshire. Saudi-born brain surgeon Dr Mohammad Asha, 26, is the alleged ringleader. He and his lab technician wife Marwah, 27, were arrested on the M6.

The charge against Abdullah is under the 1883 Explosive Substances Act — and carries a maximum sentence of life.

The five Indian doctors questioned by Australian police yesterday had all worked in Britain. Computers, mobile phones and documents were seized at the Kalgoorlie and Royal Perth hospitals in Western Australia. The five were NOT arrested. But police Commissioner Mick Keelty stressed: “Links to the UK are becoming more concrete."

Eight Al Qaeda fanatics working for the police (but they don't dare sack them)

Up to eight police officers and civilian staff are suspected of links to extremist groups including Al Qaeda.

Some are even believed to have attended terror training camps in Pakistan or Afghanistan.

Their names feature on a secret list of alleged radicals said to be working in the Metropolitan and other forces.

The dossier was drawn up with the help of MI5 amid fears that individuals linked to Islamic extremism are taking advantage of police attempts to increase the proportion of ethnic staff.

Astonishingly, many of the alleged jihadists have not been sacked because - it is claimed - police do not have the "legal power" to dismiss them.

We can also reveal that one suspected jihadist officer working in the South East has been allowed to keep his job despite being caught circulating Internet images of beheadings and roadside bombings in Iraq.

He is said to have argued that he was trying to "enhance" debate about the war.

Classified intelligence reports raising concerns about police staff's background cannot be used to justify their dismissal, sources said.

Instead, the staff who are under suspicion are unofficially barred from working in sensitive posts and are closely monitored. Political correctness is blamed for the decision not to sack them.

It is widely feared that "long-term" Al Qaeda sleepers are trying to infiltrate other public sector organisations in the UK.

In November last year, it was revealed that a leading member of an extremist Islamic group was working as a senior official at the Home Office.

MI5 has warned in the past that suspects with "strong links" to Osama Bin Laden's killers have tried to join the British security services and, in January, exiled radical Omar Bakri claimed that Islamic extremists were infiltrating the police and other public sector organisations.

Suspicions are growing that the gang behind the failed London bomb attacks could have received inside information about rescue procedures in the aftermath of an atrocity in the capital.

The Daily Mail can reveal that the second device parked near Haymarket was left at a designated "evacuation assembly point" where civilians and the emergency services would have gathered had the first bomb gone off.

Investigators are trying to establish whether the bombers knew the significance of the location.

Sources said it is unlikely that the Met is the only force which may have been infiltrated by Al Qaeda sympathisers.

Omar Altimimi, a failed asylum seeker jailed for nine years yesterday for hoarding manuals on how to carry out car bombings, had applied to work as a cleaner for the Greater Manchester force.

In a separate development, it is understood that a policeman was removed from his post after concerns about his conduct in the aftermath of a major anti-terrorist operation in the past two years.

For legal reasons, the Mail cannot reveal any more about the case.

The MI5 list of suspected Islamists working in the police is said to have been drawn up in the aftermath of the 7/7 terror attacks in London.

MI5 checked staff details at the Met and other forces with intelligence databases on individuals said to have attended radical Islamic schools - or Madrassas - and terror training camps in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

It is thought that intelligence files on those who frequently visit pro-Jihad websites and who have associated with so-called preachers of hate were also compared to details of officers and civilian staff in the Met.

As a result of the review, eight officers and civilian staff were identified as Al Qaeda sympathisers or people of concern because of their links to Islamic extremists.

The disclosure will raise concerns about the system for vetting new recruits, each of whom is the subject of counter-terrorism checks to ensure they are suitable to join the police. Scotland Yard's vetting unit is regarded as one of the best in the country.

But sources said it is often impossible to carry out satisfactory checks on recruits who were raised overseas or who have spent considerable periods out of Britain before applying to join the Met.

In such cases, the Met has to rely on overseas agencies to carry out intelligence checks on their behalf. Privately, officials doubt whether certain countries in Africa, Middle East or the Indian sub-continent are able to carry out meaningful vetting.

As a result of the Stephen Lawrence public inquiry report, which accused the Met of being "institutionally racist", Scotland Yard has in recent years employed thousands of officers and civilian staff from the ethnic minorities in an attempt to reach recruitment targets.

A Scotland Yard spokesman said: "All employees upon joining the Met and during their careers undergo a range of security checks. These are robust and vary according to the type and sensitivity of individual postings.

"We take matters of security very seriously and if an issue arises, people may be subjected to further assessment.

"This may lead to restrictions in relation to where an individual works in the organisation or whether they are suitable to remain in the service."