A Palestinian terrorist leader held by Israel filed a lawsuit against the British government for pulling wardens out of a West Bank prison that was later stormed by Israeli forces, his lawyer said Wednesday.
Attorney Kate Maynard said she had filed papers on behalf of Ahmed Saadat alleging his human rights had been violated.
The Foreign Office said it was aware the legal claim had been lodged. A High Court judge will decide whether the case can proceed.Saadat, leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, claims his human rights were violated by the March withdrawal of British wardens from a prison in Jericho where he was held.
British and US monitors supervised the prison under an unusual 2002 agreement.Minutes after the monitors withdrew, 1,000 Israeli troops stormed the prison, seizing Saadat and four of his alleged accomplices in the 2001 assassination of an Israeli Cabinet minister. The raid left three Palestinians dead and sparked reprisals against foreigners in the Palestinian territories.
Britain's then-Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said at the time that the 14 British and U.S. monitors had been withdrawn because of threats to their security.
Maynard accused the British government of acting "with complete disregard for the lives of Mr. Saadat and the other prisoners by giving (Israel) advance notice of their withdrawal and then telling them as they left."
Saadat was accused by Israel of masterminding the 2001 assassination of Tourism Minister Rehavam Zeevi. He was arrested by Palestinian police, though never charged, but was held in the Jericho jail anyway, partly to protect him from being targeted by Israel.
Four men seized with Saadat are being tried by Israel for Zeevi's murder, but the attorney general Mazuz ruled there was insufficient evidence charge Saadat. He is awaiting trial by an Israeli military court on several other terrorism-related charges.
Thursday, June 22, 2006
US confirms Heathrow hijack plot
An official US report has confirmed al-Qaeda planned to hijack flights from Heathrow and fly planes into the airport and a Canary Wharf skyscraper.
Reports of such a plot had surfaced in the media before but have not previously been confirmed.
It is believed the plot was disrupted by security services, although arrests are not thought to have been made.
The report lists nine attempts by al-Qaeda - aside from 11 September - to attack aviation targets worldwide.
Crashed into targets
One of these is the plot to fly into Canary Wharf. Another is an attempt in the summer of 2003 to use camera flash attachments as stun guns as well as cameras to disguise bomb components.
In this plot, the airliners were to be crashed into targets in the east coast of the US, Australia, Britain and Italy.
Other plots are well known, including that of the so-called shoe-bomber Richard Reid and attempts to use portable surface to air missiles to attack planes, including in Kenya.
The original reports of a possible plot against Canary Wharf emerged in late 2004, but the details were murky and officials declined to confirm them.
In February 2003, tanks were also deployed to Heathrow Airport to deal with a suspected terrorist threat, a move which proved controversial. It is not believed the deployment of the tanks was linked to the same Canary Wharf plot confirmed by the US report.
The Department of Homeland Security report, dated 16 June 2006 and marked unclassified, was first reported by ABC News in the US and has since also been seen by the BBC.
It makes clear that al-Qaeda remains interested in attacking aviation targets and "likely desires a successful repeat of a 2001 suicide hijacking against the United States".
It lists a number of ways that it could use aircraft as weapons or target different parts of the industry. Amongst the areas of concern are the use of lasers to blind or distract pilots.
Helicopter 'threat'
Three hundred and eleven possible laser incidents have occurred since late November 2004 although the number has recently declined.
Another fear is the transfer of a particular tactic used in Iraq to attack US military helicopters being used against commercial helicopters elsewhere.
Improved security has helped protect aviation, although al-Qaeda also continually appears to be searching for new approaches and probing for vulnerabilities, for instance trying to take advance of less effective security screening in some countries.
The report says the department "continues to receive information on terrorist threats to the US aviation industry worldwide; however, there is no recent information to suggest near-term operational planning may be under way within the United States".
Reports of such a plot had surfaced in the media before but have not previously been confirmed.
It is believed the plot was disrupted by security services, although arrests are not thought to have been made.
The report lists nine attempts by al-Qaeda - aside from 11 September - to attack aviation targets worldwide.
Crashed into targets
One of these is the plot to fly into Canary Wharf. Another is an attempt in the summer of 2003 to use camera flash attachments as stun guns as well as cameras to disguise bomb components.
In this plot, the airliners were to be crashed into targets in the east coast of the US, Australia, Britain and Italy.
Other plots are well known, including that of the so-called shoe-bomber Richard Reid and attempts to use portable surface to air missiles to attack planes, including in Kenya.
The original reports of a possible plot against Canary Wharf emerged in late 2004, but the details were murky and officials declined to confirm them.
In February 2003, tanks were also deployed to Heathrow Airport to deal with a suspected terrorist threat, a move which proved controversial. It is not believed the deployment of the tanks was linked to the same Canary Wharf plot confirmed by the US report.
The Department of Homeland Security report, dated 16 June 2006 and marked unclassified, was first reported by ABC News in the US and has since also been seen by the BBC.
It makes clear that al-Qaeda remains interested in attacking aviation targets and "likely desires a successful repeat of a 2001 suicide hijacking against the United States".
It lists a number of ways that it could use aircraft as weapons or target different parts of the industry. Amongst the areas of concern are the use of lasers to blind or distract pilots.
Helicopter 'threat'
Three hundred and eleven possible laser incidents have occurred since late November 2004 although the number has recently declined.
Another fear is the transfer of a particular tactic used in Iraq to attack US military helicopters being used against commercial helicopters elsewhere.
Improved security has helped protect aviation, although al-Qaeda also continually appears to be searching for new approaches and probing for vulnerabilities, for instance trying to take advance of less effective security screening in some countries.
The report says the department "continues to receive information on terrorist threats to the US aviation industry worldwide; however, there is no recent information to suggest near-term operational planning may be under way within the United States".
Tuesday, June 20, 2006
Four men arrested in terror raids
Four men have been arrested in London under anti-terror laws as part of a major investigation into alleged international terrorism, say police.
The arrests are part of an operation linked to the arrest of a man at Manchester airport on 6 June.
One man, 28, was arrested on Tuesday in south-east London and three men, aged 29 and two aged 21, on Monday in Hackney, east London.
They are in custody at a central London police station.
All four men are British citizens and were arrested on suspicion of the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism under the Terrorism Act 2000.
Police are trying to establish whether they were giving support to an alleged al-Qaeda cell in Canada
Margaret Gilmore, home affairs correspondent
Margaret Gilmore, BBC home affairs correspondent, said the arrested men were being held at Paddington Green police station in west London.
She said: "Police are trying to establish whether they [the arrested men] were giving support to an alleged al-Qaeda cell in Canada. The operation leading to their arrests involved West Yorkshire Police, MI5 and Scotland Yard."
Police said the arrests were not linked to the Forest Gate raid in east London or the 7 July attacks last year.
Scotland Yard said the police operation did not involve firearms officers. The arrested men can be held for 14 days, after which they have to be charged or released.
The arrests are linked to the investigation, led by West Yorkshire Police, in which a man and a youth were charged earlier this month with conspiracy to murder and conspiracy to cause public nuisance by using poisons or explosives.
Aabid Hussain Khan, 21, of West Yorkshire, was arrested at Manchester Airport in early June and later charged under Section 57 of the Terrorism Act.
He appeared in court on 15 June and was remanded in custody by Bow Street magistrates until 30 June to appear at the Old Bailey.
Khan appeared alongside a 16-year-old boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, who was charged with conspiracy to murder and conspiracy to cause a public nuisance by use of poisons and/or explosives.
Qur’an 9:5 "Fight and kill the disbelievers wherever you find them, take them captive, harass them, lie in wait and ambush them using every stratagem of war."
The arrests are part of an operation linked to the arrest of a man at Manchester airport on 6 June.
One man, 28, was arrested on Tuesday in south-east London and three men, aged 29 and two aged 21, on Monday in Hackney, east London.
They are in custody at a central London police station.
All four men are British citizens and were arrested on suspicion of the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism under the Terrorism Act 2000.
Police are trying to establish whether they were giving support to an alleged al-Qaeda cell in Canada
Margaret Gilmore, home affairs correspondent
Margaret Gilmore, BBC home affairs correspondent, said the arrested men were being held at Paddington Green police station in west London.
She said: "Police are trying to establish whether they [the arrested men] were giving support to an alleged al-Qaeda cell in Canada. The operation leading to their arrests involved West Yorkshire Police, MI5 and Scotland Yard."
Police said the arrests were not linked to the Forest Gate raid in east London or the 7 July attacks last year.
Scotland Yard said the police operation did not involve firearms officers. The arrested men can be held for 14 days, after which they have to be charged or released.
The arrests are linked to the investigation, led by West Yorkshire Police, in which a man and a youth were charged earlier this month with conspiracy to murder and conspiracy to cause public nuisance by using poisons or explosives.
Aabid Hussain Khan, 21, of West Yorkshire, was arrested at Manchester Airport in early June and later charged under Section 57 of the Terrorism Act.
He appeared in court on 15 June and was remanded in custody by Bow Street magistrates until 30 June to appear at the Old Bailey.
Khan appeared alongside a 16-year-old boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, who was charged with conspiracy to murder and conspiracy to cause a public nuisance by use of poisons and/or explosives.
Qur’an 9:5 "Fight and kill the disbelievers wherever you find them, take them captive, harass them, lie in wait and ambush them using every stratagem of war."
Muslim girl cyclists given a push
Bicycles are being made available for Muslim girls at a school in east London to encourage them to take up cycling.
The Transport for London (TfL) grant is part of a £150,000 scheme to help encourage communities who do not use bikes to take up the activity.
Eighty girls and relatives have signed up for a cycling club at the Central Foundation School in Bow, east London.
Head teacher Anne Hudson said the scheme would help the girls experience the "sheer joy" of cycling.
Benefits of cycling
A TfL spokeswoman said the scheme was part of the Cycle London Promotional Partnership (CLPP), and would help pay for 20 bikes and for two teachers to be trained as cycling teachers.
"It's not just for the pupils - it's something the whole community can become involved in," she said.
The school was chosen to host the sessions because it is based in a predominantly Muslim community and the scheme is designed to encourage people to take up riding in communities which do not normally cycle.
Seventy per cent of the pupils at the school are Muslim.
TfL said many women from Muslim communities do not know how to cycle because they had come from communities where "they did not have the opportunity to cycle, or cycling is uncommon for women in their communities, or the cost of purchasing cycles is a barrier".
Ms Hudson said: "The CLPP community grant is giving our students and members of the local community the opportunity to experience the benefits of cycling - for their health, the environment and for the independence and sheer joy cycling gives."
I wonder what the response would be if it was only Jewish girls, or only white girls... No wonder your average white council estate tenant is thinking of voting BNP.
do you remeber this from earlier in the year.
Angling? It's too white and too middle-aged, say ministers as they go fishing for women and ethnic minorities
The Transport for London (TfL) grant is part of a £150,000 scheme to help encourage communities who do not use bikes to take up the activity.
Eighty girls and relatives have signed up for a cycling club at the Central Foundation School in Bow, east London.
Head teacher Anne Hudson said the scheme would help the girls experience the "sheer joy" of cycling.
Benefits of cycling
A TfL spokeswoman said the scheme was part of the Cycle London Promotional Partnership (CLPP), and would help pay for 20 bikes and for two teachers to be trained as cycling teachers.
"It's not just for the pupils - it's something the whole community can become involved in," she said.
The school was chosen to host the sessions because it is based in a predominantly Muslim community and the scheme is designed to encourage people to take up riding in communities which do not normally cycle.
Seventy per cent of the pupils at the school are Muslim.
TfL said many women from Muslim communities do not know how to cycle because they had come from communities where "they did not have the opportunity to cycle, or cycling is uncommon for women in their communities, or the cost of purchasing cycles is a barrier".
Ms Hudson said: "The CLPP community grant is giving our students and members of the local community the opportunity to experience the benefits of cycling - for their health, the environment and for the independence and sheer joy cycling gives."
I wonder what the response would be if it was only Jewish girls, or only white girls... No wonder your average white council estate tenant is thinking of voting BNP.
do you remeber this from earlier in the year.
Angling? It's too white and too middle-aged, say ministers as they go fishing for women and ethnic minorities
Monday, June 19, 2006
"Positive Discrimination"
The chairman of the British Commission for Racial Equality is in favor of "positive discrimination" to increase the number of Muslims in the police force: Race law update needed, Phillips.
Britain’s race laws need updating to help in the battle against terrorism, the chairman of the Commission for Racial Equality (CRE) has said.
Trevor Phillips has called for a debate on positive discrimination in favour of Muslims applying to join the police.
"Positive discrimination." That one gets a 9+ on the LGF Euphemism Scale.
In the speech to be given at the Social Policy Forum at the Government Office for London, he will say that British Muslims are as committed to tackling "terrorism" as anyone else.
Actually, there’s more than a little evidence that exactly the opposite is true. Here’s one story we linked to last February: British Muslims: 40% Want Shari’a Law.
Here’s another one, from last July: Poll: 1/4 of UK Muslims Support 7/7 Bombers.
Not to mention this: Secret UK Report: Muslim Police Corrupt.
And then, of course, there’s this: Cartoon Madness on Video.
The initiative to recruit more Muslim police officers isn’t necessarily a terrible idea, although doing it via "positive discrimination" gives me a headache. But what do you want to bet these new police recruits will never be asked where they stand on the global jihad? Without some kind of screening for radicals, this initiative is simply asking for the police to be infiltrated—just like the British media already have been.
And of course, where would any such initiative be without an implicit threat?
Mr Phillips, a former head of the National Union of Students, will also warn that it cannot be taken for granted that Muslim communities will put up with anti-terror searches indefinitely.
Britain’s race laws need updating to help in the battle against terrorism, the chairman of the Commission for Racial Equality (CRE) has said.
Trevor Phillips has called for a debate on positive discrimination in favour of Muslims applying to join the police.
"Positive discrimination." That one gets a 9+ on the LGF Euphemism Scale.
In the speech to be given at the Social Policy Forum at the Government Office for London, he will say that British Muslims are as committed to tackling "terrorism" as anyone else.
Actually, there’s more than a little evidence that exactly the opposite is true. Here’s one story we linked to last February: British Muslims: 40% Want Shari’a Law.
Here’s another one, from last July: Poll: 1/4 of UK Muslims Support 7/7 Bombers.
Not to mention this: Secret UK Report: Muslim Police Corrupt.
And then, of course, there’s this: Cartoon Madness on Video.
The initiative to recruit more Muslim police officers isn’t necessarily a terrible idea, although doing it via "positive discrimination" gives me a headache. But what do you want to bet these new police recruits will never be asked where they stand on the global jihad? Without some kind of screening for radicals, this initiative is simply asking for the police to be infiltrated—just like the British media already have been.
And of course, where would any such initiative be without an implicit threat?
Mr Phillips, a former head of the National Union of Students, will also warn that it cannot be taken for granted that Muslim communities will put up with anti-terror searches indefinitely.
Sunday, June 18, 2006
Imam backs terror attack against Blair
A RADICAL Muslim who ousted a leading moderate cleric from his mosque on the south coast with a campaign of violence has said he believes Tony Blair is a "legitimate target" for terrorists.
Abubaker Deghayes, who now runs the mosque in Brighton and whose brother Omar is a detainee at Guantanamo Bay, told an undercover reporter that he endorsed the views of George Galloway, the Respect MP, who said an attack on the prime minister by a suicide bomber could be morally justified. Deghayes said he prayed for Allah to support anyone who attacked Blair.
Court documents show Deghayes took over the mosque using violence, intimidation and threats. Dr Abduljalil Sajid, a leading imam and a government adviser on Islam, was forced out as head of the mosque by Deghayes and his supporters.
It is understood Sussex police Special Branch held a number of meetings with Sajid about extremist elements at the site, but no overt action was taken. Sajid, chairman of the Muslim Council for Religious and Racial Harmony, is understood to have raised his concerns about the mosque with Blair.
Police sources have confirmed that in the past extremist literature had been found at the site and that some of those attending the mosque were suspected of having fought as "mercenaries" abroad.
The Charity Commission, which has jurisdiction over the mosque because it is run as a charity, said it did not know how the mosque was receiving and spending money and added that it was operating "in breach of legal requirements".
A reporter spent two weeks undercover at the Al-Quds mosque, which is in a detached house in Brighton. On Fridays, it can attract 100-200 worshippers. Deghayes made his extremist views clear while chatting to the reporter. Asked whether he shared Galloway’s view that the prime minister was a legitimate target for suicide bombers, he replied: "Yes, I do, I do."
In another conversation, Deghayes said: "He is a legitimate target. Him and Bush are part of all that we see now."
Later asked if he ever prayed for Blair to be attacked by a Muslim, he said: "I pray to Allah to support them. Of course, I know anybody who attacks in the name of Islam, Allah will take care of him."
Deghayes also said he was unconcerned about British troops being killed in Iraq because the issue was "all clear in international law". "Under international law anybody who’s been invaded, they are entitled to self-defence," he said.
"It’s something all countries are signatories to. So what’s happening is an occupation. People in Iraq have every right to liberate themselves."
But he urged the reporter to be careful with whom he discussed his views for fear of prosecution. Deghayes said: "Don’t talk openly, like ‘Tony Blair (is) an open target’. Now you can be taken in for glorifying terrorism.
"(Even) among Muslim brothers . . . there are hypocrites, munafiqs (hypocrites). There are spies, all sorts of people. There’s no need to talk about it, to say like this."
Deghayes this weekend insisted he had understood Galloway to mean Blair was a legitimate political target. Deghayes, who is from Libya but now has British citizenship, said he was personally opposed to violence.
The Al-Quds mosque run by Deghayes has links with extremists, according to court testimony.
David Courtailler, a convicted supporter of Al-Qaeda who is connected to a number of terrorists responsible for the Madrid bombings and 9/11, converted to Islam at the Brighton mosque days before travelling to Afghanistan.
Courtailler, who was sentenced to four years in prison in 2004 for aiding terrorists, was given £1,000 by Omar Deghayes to travel to a jihad training camp in Afghanistan, according to records of his Paris trial.
The revelation surprised supporters of the campaign to free 36-year-old Omar Deghayes from Guantanamo, where he was sent after being arrested in Pakistan in 2002. He had earlier left Afghanistan where he had lived with his Afghan wife under the Taliban regime.
Activists have criticised the lack of evidence to justify holding Omar Deghayes, saying his incarceration is a case of mistaken identity.
According to court records, his older brother Abubaker Deghayes orchestrated a sustained campaign of intimidation against Sajid.
Deghayes, 38, became aggressive towards those running the Brighton mosque after they were sceptical about his plan to start an Islamic primary school on the site in 1996. He told the trustees he wanted to give Muslim children an education away from "western influences" and "misleading ideologies", but the scheme was rejected.
In May 1997 Brighton county court found Sajid had been assaulted four times by Deghayes in December 1996 and January 1997 and was also spat upon and threatened with a knife by one of his supporters.
Injunctions were issued to prevent Deghayes and his supporters approaching Sajid but he was forced out of the mosque, followed by the trustees of the Sussex Muslim Society charity, which operates it.
Deghayes wrote to the Charity Commission in 1996 stating that he and his followers were in charge but regulators at the commission said at the time they had not been properly elected and were not entitled to run the charity.
The Charity Commission closed the case in 2004 when new elections were promised, although by then all the charity’s ties with the original trustees had been severed.
Charity Commission records indicate that since 1998 the charity has filed incomplete and sporadic accounts. No accounts for the past four financial years have been received.
The commission said: "The charity is currently in breach of legal requirements by filing inadequate accounts."
The takeover of the mosque is similar to the coup executed at the Finsbury Park mosque in north London by Abu Hamza, the hook-handed cleric jailed last year for inciting murder, who drove out the trustees and imam using violence and slander so he could use the site to expound his extremist rhetoric.
Hamza also spent some time living at the Brighton mosque in the late 1980s. Rafique Miah, one of the trustees before the takeover, said: "Abubaker came in as a worshipper. Then he started to take over. When we told Abubaker, ‘This is England, we have to follow the law,’ he would say ‘British law under my foot’."
Deghayes insisted his charity had filed accounts regularly. When asked about his brother’s alleged links to Courtailler, he said: "I have no idea what this is about. The name does not really mean anything to me."
He added: "I don’t think George Galloway meant Tony Blair was a target for assassination, I think he means he is a target to be brought down as a prime minister, that is how I understood it.
"Anyone who attacks Islam I believe that Allah will take care of him, that is, Allah will defend Islam. This is what I believe as a Muslim."
Abubaker Deghayes, who now runs the mosque in Brighton and whose brother Omar is a detainee at Guantanamo Bay, told an undercover reporter that he endorsed the views of George Galloway, the Respect MP, who said an attack on the prime minister by a suicide bomber could be morally justified. Deghayes said he prayed for Allah to support anyone who attacked Blair.
Court documents show Deghayes took over the mosque using violence, intimidation and threats. Dr Abduljalil Sajid, a leading imam and a government adviser on Islam, was forced out as head of the mosque by Deghayes and his supporters.
It is understood Sussex police Special Branch held a number of meetings with Sajid about extremist elements at the site, but no overt action was taken. Sajid, chairman of the Muslim Council for Religious and Racial Harmony, is understood to have raised his concerns about the mosque with Blair.
Police sources have confirmed that in the past extremist literature had been found at the site and that some of those attending the mosque were suspected of having fought as "mercenaries" abroad.
The Charity Commission, which has jurisdiction over the mosque because it is run as a charity, said it did not know how the mosque was receiving and spending money and added that it was operating "in breach of legal requirements".
A reporter spent two weeks undercover at the Al-Quds mosque, which is in a detached house in Brighton. On Fridays, it can attract 100-200 worshippers. Deghayes made his extremist views clear while chatting to the reporter. Asked whether he shared Galloway’s view that the prime minister was a legitimate target for suicide bombers, he replied: "Yes, I do, I do."
In another conversation, Deghayes said: "He is a legitimate target. Him and Bush are part of all that we see now."
Later asked if he ever prayed for Blair to be attacked by a Muslim, he said: "I pray to Allah to support them. Of course, I know anybody who attacks in the name of Islam, Allah will take care of him."
Deghayes also said he was unconcerned about British troops being killed in Iraq because the issue was "all clear in international law". "Under international law anybody who’s been invaded, they are entitled to self-defence," he said.
"It’s something all countries are signatories to. So what’s happening is an occupation. People in Iraq have every right to liberate themselves."
But he urged the reporter to be careful with whom he discussed his views for fear of prosecution. Deghayes said: "Don’t talk openly, like ‘Tony Blair (is) an open target’. Now you can be taken in for glorifying terrorism.
"(Even) among Muslim brothers . . . there are hypocrites, munafiqs (hypocrites). There are spies, all sorts of people. There’s no need to talk about it, to say like this."
Deghayes this weekend insisted he had understood Galloway to mean Blair was a legitimate political target. Deghayes, who is from Libya but now has British citizenship, said he was personally opposed to violence.
The Al-Quds mosque run by Deghayes has links with extremists, according to court testimony.
David Courtailler, a convicted supporter of Al-Qaeda who is connected to a number of terrorists responsible for the Madrid bombings and 9/11, converted to Islam at the Brighton mosque days before travelling to Afghanistan.
Courtailler, who was sentenced to four years in prison in 2004 for aiding terrorists, was given £1,000 by Omar Deghayes to travel to a jihad training camp in Afghanistan, according to records of his Paris trial.
The revelation surprised supporters of the campaign to free 36-year-old Omar Deghayes from Guantanamo, where he was sent after being arrested in Pakistan in 2002. He had earlier left Afghanistan where he had lived with his Afghan wife under the Taliban regime.
Activists have criticised the lack of evidence to justify holding Omar Deghayes, saying his incarceration is a case of mistaken identity.
According to court records, his older brother Abubaker Deghayes orchestrated a sustained campaign of intimidation against Sajid.
Deghayes, 38, became aggressive towards those running the Brighton mosque after they were sceptical about his plan to start an Islamic primary school on the site in 1996. He told the trustees he wanted to give Muslim children an education away from "western influences" and "misleading ideologies", but the scheme was rejected.
In May 1997 Brighton county court found Sajid had been assaulted four times by Deghayes in December 1996 and January 1997 and was also spat upon and threatened with a knife by one of his supporters.
Injunctions were issued to prevent Deghayes and his supporters approaching Sajid but he was forced out of the mosque, followed by the trustees of the Sussex Muslim Society charity, which operates it.
Deghayes wrote to the Charity Commission in 1996 stating that he and his followers were in charge but regulators at the commission said at the time they had not been properly elected and were not entitled to run the charity.
The Charity Commission closed the case in 2004 when new elections were promised, although by then all the charity’s ties with the original trustees had been severed.
Charity Commission records indicate that since 1998 the charity has filed incomplete and sporadic accounts. No accounts for the past four financial years have been received.
The commission said: "The charity is currently in breach of legal requirements by filing inadequate accounts."
The takeover of the mosque is similar to the coup executed at the Finsbury Park mosque in north London by Abu Hamza, the hook-handed cleric jailed last year for inciting murder, who drove out the trustees and imam using violence and slander so he could use the site to expound his extremist rhetoric.
Hamza also spent some time living at the Brighton mosque in the late 1980s. Rafique Miah, one of the trustees before the takeover, said: "Abubaker came in as a worshipper. Then he started to take over. When we told Abubaker, ‘This is England, we have to follow the law,’ he would say ‘British law under my foot’."
Deghayes insisted his charity had filed accounts regularly. When asked about his brother’s alleged links to Courtailler, he said: "I have no idea what this is about. The name does not really mean anything to me."
He added: "I don’t think George Galloway meant Tony Blair was a target for assassination, I think he means he is a target to be brought down as a prime minister, that is how I understood it.
"Anyone who attacks Islam I believe that Allah will take care of him, that is, Allah will defend Islam. This is what I believe as a Muslim."
Woman killed in double stabbing
A 23-year-old woman has died and another was seriously injured in a double stabbing in Blackburn.
The pair were rushed to hospital after being attacked in a house on Shear Bank Road on Saturday afternoon.
One of the victims died at Blackburn Royal Infirmary. The other, a 20-year-old woman, is said to be in a serious condition.
Police are looking for an Asian man seen fleeing the area, who they think would have been heavily blood-stained.
He is described as in his mid-20s, about 5ft 10in tall and with a slim to medium build.
He has a short, rough beard and swept back hair and was wearing brownish green jeans.
The pair were rushed to hospital after being attacked in a house on Shear Bank Road on Saturday afternoon.
One of the victims died at Blackburn Royal Infirmary. The other, a 20-year-old woman, is said to be in a serious condition.
Police are looking for an Asian man seen fleeing the area, who they think would have been heavily blood-stained.
He is described as in his mid-20s, about 5ft 10in tall and with a slim to medium build.
He has a short, rough beard and swept back hair and was wearing brownish green jeans.
Saturday, June 17, 2006
see we can do it.
A suspected terrorist, who was cleared of involvement in a plot to poison Londoners with ricin, has been deported to Algeria.
The man has been granted anonymity but the government maintains he is a threat. Carole Walker reports.
Second Algerian suspect deported
The man has been granted anonymity but the government maintains he is a threat. Carole Walker reports.
Second Algerian suspect deported
Sister is stabbed to death for loving the wrong man.
Children were made to watch an attack on a woman who was forbidden to marry outside her caste
Samaira Nazir was murdered by her brother and his cousin. Her father, allegedly involved in the attack, is in hiding .
A BUSINESSMAN is facing a life sentence for stabbing his sister to death in front of his two young daughters in a so-called honour killing.
Azhar Nazir, 30, and his cousin, 17, used four knives to cut Samaira Nazir’s throat and repeatedly stab her after she fell in love with an asylum-seeker from what they saw as an unsuitable caste.
Miss Nazir, 25, had rejected suitors lined up to meet her in Pakistan and had been summoned to the family home in Southall, Middlesex.
The father, also called Azhar, Nazir and the youth launched the attack and at one point dragged her by her hair back into the property.
Miss Nazir, a businesswoman described as “strong-willed”, was heard to shout at her mother, Irshad Begum: “You are not my mother any more.” She was then held down as a scarf was tied around her neck and her throat was cut in three places. Nazir’s daughters, aged 2 and 4, were screaming and were splattered with blood. Police fear that they were ordered to watch as a warning to them. Neighbours called the police after hearing the screaming.
Nazir was found guilty yesterday of murdering his sister; a day after his cousin, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was convicted for his part in the murder. They were remanded in custody and will be sentenced at the Old Bailey in London next month.
The court was told that the 17-year-old believed that Miss Nazir had become a victim of black magic at the hands of Mr Mohammad, an Afghan asylum-seeker. Nazir denied murder but told police that his sister “had to be stopped”.
The father was also charged with the murder but fled to Pakistan, where he has gone into hiding. Charges against the mother were later dropped.
The court was told that Nazir and his father ran Rana Brothers, a successful grocery store on Southall Broadway. The son also owned a recruitment company, S & F Staffing, which supplied workers for the Hilton hotel chain and had made Miss Nazir a director.
She was articulate and well-educated and had studied travel and tourism at Thames University. She was described as the brightest in the family.
She clashed with her family when she told them that she wanted to marry Mr Mohammad, who become known to the family after he came to the country illegally.
After the couple fell in love,Mr Mohammad tried to ingratiate himself with the family by arranging to bring the 17-year-old cousin to Britain from Pakistan. Mr Mohammad and Miss Nazir kept their affair secret for years.
He told jurors: “We were as boyfriend and girlfriend for about five or six years. But we couldn’t tell her family because Samaira said her father was a very strict man who would not allow any female in his family to marry outside of his caste or tribe. We had discussed marriage. Samaira wanted to tell her family herself. Her father was very upset and said I was only after their money.”
When the couple announced their engagement, Mr Mohammad, who ran a stall selling phone cards, said the father went at him with a knife and threatened to kill him.
In April last year Miss Nazir was summoned to the home to be killed to protect the family’s honour. As she screamed for help one neighbour banged on the front door, but the father emerged claiming that his daughter was having a fit.
When police arrived they found a trail of blood from the front of the house to the back door and then to the hallway where Miss Nazir’s body was slumped in a pool of blood.
The amount of blood on the children suggested that they were only feet from the attack. A neighbour spotted Miss Nazir’s bloodstained arm emerge momentarily from the front door before she was dragged back inside and the door slammed shut.
She received 18 stab wounds and three cuts to her throat.
Police may let Muslims see terrorism intelligence
The police are considering a proposal to let selected British Muslims examine the intelligence used to mount anti-terrorism raids before they take place, the Guardian has learned.
The proposal will be considered as part of a review of the raid in Forest Gate, east London, a fortnight ago when 250 officers stormed a family house searching for a chemical weapon which was not found. One man was shot and police have apologised for the “hurt” caused by the raid which has further damaged strained relations with the local community. The review began this week and is expected to be completed before the end of the month.
the head of Labour's ethnic minority taskforce will today warn that the anti-terrorism battle will not work while Muslims feel picked on.
While such a review after a controversial incident is standard, this one is unique because British Muslims are involved from the start.
A senior police source with knowledge of the issues involved said: “We are working on sharing more information with the community before, during and after events so they understand as much of the context as we can provide.”
Other sources said the review would look at the gathering and assessment of intelligence, which is sparser than in other serious crime. The review will also look at what action police then take, and whether hundreds of police need to storm a private family house. Also on the table is more rapid compensation, whether police can do more to stop or counteract leaks “smearing” suspects.
And here’s part two of tonight’s episode of “You’ve Got To Be Kidding:” British civics class encourages kids to think like terrorists.
The proposal will be considered as part of a review of the raid in Forest Gate, east London, a fortnight ago when 250 officers stormed a family house searching for a chemical weapon which was not found. One man was shot and police have apologised for the “hurt” caused by the raid which has further damaged strained relations with the local community. The review began this week and is expected to be completed before the end of the month.
the head of Labour's ethnic minority taskforce will today warn that the anti-terrorism battle will not work while Muslims feel picked on.While such a review after a controversial incident is standard, this one is unique because British Muslims are involved from the start.
A senior police source with knowledge of the issues involved said: “We are working on sharing more information with the community before, during and after events so they understand as much of the context as we can provide.”
Other sources said the review would look at the gathering and assessment of intelligence, which is sparser than in other serious crime. The review will also look at what action police then take, and whether hundreds of police need to storm a private family house. Also on the table is more rapid compensation, whether police can do more to stop or counteract leaks “smearing” suspects.
And here’s part two of tonight’s episode of “You’ve Got To Be Kidding:” British civics class encourages kids to think like terrorists.
'30 hijackers on BA jet'
TWO terror suspects discussed using 30 suicide hijackers to crash a BA plane — killing 300 passengers, the Old Bailey heard yesterday.
Omar Khyam, 24, and Jawad Akbar, 22, are accused of being part of a UK-based al-Qaeda cell
The pair were caught on secret surveillance tapes played to the court and allegedly tested bombs at a Pakistan terror training camp and stashed 600kg of fertiliser in a lock-up.
But they were secretly followed and bugged by MI5 agents in 2004 and were arrested before they could strike, it is claimed. Khyam and Akbar talked about the possibility of an attack but it was "just an idea right now", the court heard.
In one conversation recorded at Akbar’s home in Uxbridge, West London, Khyam said: "Nobody knows what’s really going on, it’s just ideas coming out.
"Imagine you’ve got a plane, 300 people in it, you buy tickets for 30 brothers in there.
"They’re massive brothers, you just crash the plane. You could do it easy, it’s just an idea."
Akbar, a student at Brunel University, replied: "Thirty brothers, to find 30 brothers willing to commit suicide."
Khyam: "If you spoke to some serious brothers, to the right people, you’d probably get it, bro."
Akbar: "Thirty brothers who’d be willing to give their lives.’
Khyam: "Yeah, you’d get it bro, whether they were from abroad, you’d get it."
He later added: "As soon as an air marshal gets up and shoots one the others just jump him."
Earlier the pair talked about launching attacks such as poisoning water supplies, cutting power cables and targeting gas pipes.
Akbar and Khyam, both now of Crawley, West Sussex, and three other men deny a variety of charges relating to causing explosions and terrorism.
Wednesday, June 14, 2006
little john speaks out
Losing your legs on 7/7 justifies a £500,000 payout... losing your liberty for a few days doesn't, says RICHARD LITTLEJOHN.
The two men arrested as terror suspects in Forest Gate are reported to be in line for compensation payments up to £500,000.
Why?
They have been released, declared innocent and left Paddington Green police station without, as the saying goes, a stain on their character.
Background• Terror raid: the backlash• Comment: MI5, the police and the inside story of a raid that went wrong
It is now glaringly apparent that the police acted on faulty or deliberately misleading intelligence.
No one believes these men are guilty. Their reputations have not been traduced. Most of us don't even know who they are. So how could we possibly ostracise them socially?
In fact, to some they will now become heroes and can expect lucrative newspaper, book and television deals for the story of their ordeal.
If anyone comes out of this with an omelette on their helmet, it is the police, even though they were only doing their job. They have apologised publicly to the men and their family.
There might be a case for a small amount of compensation, particularly to the brother who suffered a minor gunshot wound. And, clearly, Scotland Yard will have to send in the builders to repair broken doors and windows and torn-up floorboards.
But talk of half a million pounds is ludicrous. A couple of grand should cover any inconvenience and loss of earnings.
Unfortunately, the Yard's track record in doling out largesse isn't encouraging. Their instinct is always to break the bank to assuage any slight, real or perceived, to the ethnic communities.
If we are to believe what we are told, the eventual bill should be passed on to the Funny People. The intelligence failure has been laid at the door of MI5. Let's hope the spooks take it out on their informant's kneecaps.
Ultimately, any compensation to these two men will come out of public funds. And the public — even those of us who fully supported the raid — will rightly come to the conclusion that enough money has been wasted already.
If these men weren't Muslim and were, say, suspected bank robbers detained for a week after a dawn raid, they wouldn't now be looking at a windfall in the region of half a million.
That's the kind of settlement which is likely to be paid to survivors and relatives of those killed in the 7/ 7 bombings. No one is going to convince me that losing your liberty for a few days equates to losing your legs, losing your life or losing a loved one.
Yet the authorities are so terrified of upsetting the 'community' that they will inevitably throw a parachute-bag full of money at it.
There have been a couple of halfhearted demonstrations accusing the police of targeting young Muslim men. I'm afraid that's an unfortunate consequence of the war on terror.
Most young Muslim men are decent, respectable members of society. But a sizeable minority are not, as we saw during the Danish cartoons demonstration in London, which gleefully threatened more terrorist attacks on British soil and included the brother of the two men arrested in Forest Gate.
Those who attacked London on 7/ 7 and those who tried to repeat that carnage two weeks later were all Muslims.
And the one thing that the terrorist murderers of 9/ 11, Madrid and Bali all have in common is the M-word. And we're not talking Methodist.
The preachers of death and hatred are all Muslims, too. You can argue that they're the 'wrong kind' of Muslims, but the antiterrorist squad can be forgiven for not concentrating their attention on Baptists or Rastafarians.
There are Muslims living in Britain who wish us harm. This weekend, I picked up my local newspaper, which was leading its front page on a concerted campaign by Islamic extremists to take over the North Finchley mosque.
It can't be much fun for young Muslims to feel under constant suspicion, but the fault for that lies not with the police or the wider population but with their own co-religionists.
Nor is the situation helped by the posturing and politicking of self-appointed, rent-a-gob 'community leaders' like in the ginger syrup who now runs the Muslim Council and who in a newspaper interview this weekend complained that Britain was not Islamic enough and should adopt arranged marriages.
Talk about winning friends and influencing people. He should be asserting that Britain is a liberal, tolerant country with an honourable history of religious freedom, its own laws and customs and one in which we all have duties as well as rights. If anyone here wants to live under Sharia law, they should move to a country more to their liking.
If he really wants to break down tensions, he should be urging Muslims to abandon the grievance culture, assimilate into British society, get involved in democratic local and national politics, join the police and security services and shop the troublemakers and terrorists in their midst to the authorities.
If that happens — and don't hold your breath — then maybe, just maybe, we will be able to prevent not just another 7/ 7, but also stop a monumental cock-up such as Forest Gate from happening again.
Add your comment
The two men arrested as terror suspects in Forest Gate are reported to be in line for compensation payments up to £500,000.
Why?
They have been released, declared innocent and left Paddington Green police station without, as the saying goes, a stain on their character.
Background• Terror raid: the backlash• Comment: MI5, the police and the inside story of a raid that went wrong
It is now glaringly apparent that the police acted on faulty or deliberately misleading intelligence.
No one believes these men are guilty. Their reputations have not been traduced. Most of us don't even know who they are. So how could we possibly ostracise them socially?
In fact, to some they will now become heroes and can expect lucrative newspaper, book and television deals for the story of their ordeal.
If anyone comes out of this with an omelette on their helmet, it is the police, even though they were only doing their job. They have apologised publicly to the men and their family.
There might be a case for a small amount of compensation, particularly to the brother who suffered a minor gunshot wound. And, clearly, Scotland Yard will have to send in the builders to repair broken doors and windows and torn-up floorboards.
But talk of half a million pounds is ludicrous. A couple of grand should cover any inconvenience and loss of earnings.
Unfortunately, the Yard's track record in doling out largesse isn't encouraging. Their instinct is always to break the bank to assuage any slight, real or perceived, to the ethnic communities.
If we are to believe what we are told, the eventual bill should be passed on to the Funny People. The intelligence failure has been laid at the door of MI5. Let's hope the spooks take it out on their informant's kneecaps.
Ultimately, any compensation to these two men will come out of public funds. And the public — even those of us who fully supported the raid — will rightly come to the conclusion that enough money has been wasted already.
If these men weren't Muslim and were, say, suspected bank robbers detained for a week after a dawn raid, they wouldn't now be looking at a windfall in the region of half a million.
That's the kind of settlement which is likely to be paid to survivors and relatives of those killed in the 7/ 7 bombings. No one is going to convince me that losing your liberty for a few days equates to losing your legs, losing your life or losing a loved one.
Yet the authorities are so terrified of upsetting the 'community' that they will inevitably throw a parachute-bag full of money at it.
There have been a couple of halfhearted demonstrations accusing the police of targeting young Muslim men. I'm afraid that's an unfortunate consequence of the war on terror.
Most young Muslim men are decent, respectable members of society. But a sizeable minority are not, as we saw during the Danish cartoons demonstration in London, which gleefully threatened more terrorist attacks on British soil and included the brother of the two men arrested in Forest Gate.
Those who attacked London on 7/ 7 and those who tried to repeat that carnage two weeks later were all Muslims.
And the one thing that the terrorist murderers of 9/ 11, Madrid and Bali all have in common is the M-word. And we're not talking Methodist.
The preachers of death and hatred are all Muslims, too. You can argue that they're the 'wrong kind' of Muslims, but the antiterrorist squad can be forgiven for not concentrating their attention on Baptists or Rastafarians.
There are Muslims living in Britain who wish us harm. This weekend, I picked up my local newspaper, which was leading its front page on a concerted campaign by Islamic extremists to take over the North Finchley mosque.
It can't be much fun for young Muslims to feel under constant suspicion, but the fault for that lies not with the police or the wider population but with their own co-religionists.
Nor is the situation helped by the posturing and politicking of self-appointed, rent-a-gob 'community leaders' like in the ginger syrup who now runs the Muslim Council and who in a newspaper interview this weekend complained that Britain was not Islamic enough and should adopt arranged marriages.
Talk about winning friends and influencing people. He should be asserting that Britain is a liberal, tolerant country with an honourable history of religious freedom, its own laws and customs and one in which we all have duties as well as rights. If anyone here wants to live under Sharia law, they should move to a country more to their liking.
If he really wants to break down tensions, he should be urging Muslims to abandon the grievance culture, assimilate into British society, get involved in democratic local and national politics, join the police and security services and shop the troublemakers and terrorists in their midst to the authorities.
If that happens — and don't hold your breath — then maybe, just maybe, we will be able to prevent not just another 7/ 7, but also stop a monumental cock-up such as Forest Gate from happening again.
Add your comment
Raid brothers had £38,000 cash stashed in a bedroom
Anti-terror police discovered £38,000 in cash at the home of two brothers arrested over a suspected chemical bomb plot.
See also...Top Asian officer's grave concerns over terror raid
Officers came across the money in a bedroom after Mohammed Abdul Kahar, 23, and Abul Koyair, 20, were held during a raid at the family's terraced house.
It is not known how Kahar, a postal worker, and Koyair, a shelf-stacker at Tesco, came to have such a large amount of money - much of it in £50 notes - at the property.
Last night security sources confirmed that £38,000 had been found at the house in Forest Gate, East London.
But they believe there was not a sinister reason for so much cash being hidden there.
Muslims frown upon the payment of interest - making it difficult for them to use banks and building societies.
A security source told the Mail: "It is true that we recovered nearly £40,000 in cash, but we believe there are cultural reasons why the money was being stored in the property."
Kahar and Koyair were quizzed for a week at high-security Paddington Green police station in London after being arrested.
They were targeted after an MI5 informant said he had seen a poison device which was understood to have been stored at their home.
But after spending a week in custody, they were were released without charge - prompting questions about why the raid was carried out in the first place.
Police said they had 'no choice' but to arrest the men and search their home after receiving 'specific and credible' intelligence about a terror plot involving a poison bomb.
But no weapon was ever found - despite police carrying out a fingertip search of the property.
Kahar was shot in the chest as armed officers stormed the house. This week he accused the police of 'brutality'.
The brothers claim they were kicked and verbally abused when they were detained by anti-terror officers.
Asked at a press conference on Tuesday why he had been targeted by police, Kahar said: "The only crime I have done in their eyes is being Asian and having a full-length beard."
As well as fearing a potentially-deadly chemical weapon was being stored in the property, firearms officers were deployed because the address has previously been linked with guns.
Kahar and Koyair's elder brother, Mohammed Abdullah Hasneth, was arrested for three armed robberies in 2002 and later jailed for six years.
Legal experts say the brothers could receive a six-figure compensation sum after being apparently libelled by officers.
Neither the brothers nor their lawyers are thought to have revealed during questioning why they had such vast sums of money stored in the house.
This week Chancellor Gordon Brown acknowledged that devout Muslims often found it difficult to access traditional financial services in Britain.
Many Muslims refuse to open accounts with banks and building societies because the payment of interest on money in accounts is considered usury - and against their religion.
Mr Brown pledged to make it easier for them to save their money by making London a centre for Islamic banking.
See also...Top Asian officer's grave concerns over terror raid
Officers came across the money in a bedroom after Mohammed Abdul Kahar, 23, and Abul Koyair, 20, were held during a raid at the family's terraced house.
It is not known how Kahar, a postal worker, and Koyair, a shelf-stacker at Tesco, came to have such a large amount of money - much of it in £50 notes - at the property.
Last night security sources confirmed that £38,000 had been found at the house in Forest Gate, East London.
But they believe there was not a sinister reason for so much cash being hidden there.
Muslims frown upon the payment of interest - making it difficult for them to use banks and building societies.
A security source told the Mail: "It is true that we recovered nearly £40,000 in cash, but we believe there are cultural reasons why the money was being stored in the property."
Kahar and Koyair were quizzed for a week at high-security Paddington Green police station in London after being arrested.
They were targeted after an MI5 informant said he had seen a poison device which was understood to have been stored at their home.
But after spending a week in custody, they were were released without charge - prompting questions about why the raid was carried out in the first place.
Police said they had 'no choice' but to arrest the men and search their home after receiving 'specific and credible' intelligence about a terror plot involving a poison bomb.
But no weapon was ever found - despite police carrying out a fingertip search of the property.
Kahar was shot in the chest as armed officers stormed the house. This week he accused the police of 'brutality'.
The brothers claim they were kicked and verbally abused when they were detained by anti-terror officers.
Asked at a press conference on Tuesday why he had been targeted by police, Kahar said: "The only crime I have done in their eyes is being Asian and having a full-length beard."
As well as fearing a potentially-deadly chemical weapon was being stored in the property, firearms officers were deployed because the address has previously been linked with guns.
Kahar and Koyair's elder brother, Mohammed Abdullah Hasneth, was arrested for three armed robberies in 2002 and later jailed for six years.
Legal experts say the brothers could receive a six-figure compensation sum after being apparently libelled by officers.
Neither the brothers nor their lawyers are thought to have revealed during questioning why they had such vast sums of money stored in the house.
This week Chancellor Gordon Brown acknowledged that devout Muslims often found it difficult to access traditional financial services in Britain.
Many Muslims refuse to open accounts with banks and building societies because the payment of interest on money in accounts is considered usury - and against their religion.
Mr Brown pledged to make it easier for them to save their money by making London a centre for Islamic banking.
BBC: Youth, Man Charged in Terror Probe
A youth, 16, and a man, 21, have been charged with conspiracy to murder and conspiring to cause public nuisance by using poisons or explosives.The man, from Bradford, was arrested at Manchester airport. He is also accused of possessing a computer hard drive for a purpose connected with terrorism.
He and the 16-year-old, from Dewsbury, will appear at Bow Street Magistrates’ Court in central London on Thursday
The man and the youth were arrested under terrorism laws last week.
The police are apologizing to the religious community of the "youth" and the "man" for any inconvenience or humiliation that their attempt to prevent mass murder may have caused.
Police say they are aware operations "of this nature" can cause public concern and have been meeting religious and civic leaders in Dewsbury and Bradford to keep them informed of events.
"This is a serious and complex investigation.
Pair in court on terror charges
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