Specific intelligence

Kudos to Abdul Kahar and Abul Koyair for having the guts to speak up following their ordeal at the hands of the Met.

The two men painted a horrific picture of what happened at their home a couple of weeks ago:

I was begging: "Please, please, I cannot move."

He just kicked me in my face, and he kept on saying "shut the fuck up. Stay here".

I thought they were going to shoot me again or shoot my brother.

I heard them shouting "secure the room".

At that moment I still did not know they were the police, they never said a word about the police.

I just thought "they're going to kill us".

This is not the first time that brutality allegations have been made against the Met during anti-terror raids. This reminded me of the original arrest of Babar Ahmad. Medical evidence showed he was severely beaten in custody. He said that officers also made him prostrate as in the Muslim prayer mocking him with “Where is your God now?”. Following this bodies like the Muslim Safety Forum were established to build relations between Muslim and the police. It would appear they are not having the desired affect.

This is without discussing the obvious lessons about shooting suspects, especially post De Menezes. If they haven't learned that one, one suspects they'll learn nothing.

I wrote at the time (1, 2) of the Abdul Kahar and Abul Koyair arrests about the farcical media management. Lessons also need to be learned here as clearly either the police or intelligence services were feeding porkies to the press (see Manic for more).

There is a glaring problem with intelligence gathering. The Forest Gate raids are said to have been based on “specific intelligence”. Was this so “specific” as to have been one source? If this from Abdul Kahar via Indigo Jo is anything to go by, it seems there was no intelligence at all, in more ways than one:

At the beginning, I was more curious. I wanted to know the reason why I got arrested.

I knew it was something to do with terrorism. I asked the officer in charge of the police: 'Can you tell me, what have I done?'

They mentioned a few names of terrorist organisations. I didn't recognise any of them until they mentioned al-Qaeda.

Then they said: 'Are you a member of Jemaah Islamiah?' They kept on telling me I'm a member of a few things.

Then at the end they go: 'I know it's going to be a daft question, but are you a member of a white organisation, the Ku Klux Klan?'

I didn't even have time to laugh. I thought: 'These people are thinking I'm a white terrorist now', and they wasn't even joking.

The feeling among many Muslims though is that someone harbouring a grudge could phone police and then 250 coppers would then show up at their door. One Muslim told me yesterday he had a nightmare about being fitted up on trumped up terror charges. Cynics would argue that is entirely the desired effect.

Mad Melanie Phillips though thinks the whole thing was an Al-Qaeda conspiracy to make the police look stupid.

More with the Curious Hamster, Faisal Bodi

Comments

[Osama Bin Lalluh]

Having heard the Brothers on BBC describing their ordeal in tears were really unbearable. I am just wondering where is all that talk about “Law”, “Justice”, and inviolable of “Englishman’s castle”. This is all empty talk and meaningless motto. In practice, when face with terrorism the table is turned and the British Policemen was using “War on Terror” as shield to harass South Asians and Muslim community. Tony Blair has unleashed a bunch of lawless cowboys in the name of “anti-terrorism”. He did say he supported the Police actions 101%! 101%! No qualification – he issued a blanket approval. The Police can do whatever they like knowing the PM is 101% on their side no matter what happens. I am wondering whether he is a Labour or a Tory?

Well, the London Police has made 2 serious blunders: first, they killed a Brazilian claiming he has a dark (probable thinking he was a Pakistani) complexion with padded clothes and secondly, they raid the Forest gate home shooting a Muslim brother claiming the home was being used by terrorists. What next? Who will be the target of their “anti-terrorist operation”?

This is worse than the worse day of “Nazi terror” – this is “White terrorism” at its best!

[Ted]

"This is worse than the worse day of “Nazi terror"

The police are engaged in a systematic genocide based on notions of racial purity wherefrom the categorised individual has no chance of official escape or possible exemption upon validation of said racial category? Hardly. Calm down and then lie down.

It was clear fairly early on that something was amiss in Forest Gate. Clearly bad intelligence - malicious or otherwise - to blame somewhere along the line. It's a horrible experience for the brothers concered, regardless. I would be dubious about the claim that they didn't identify themselves as police having witnessed armed police in action - in West Nile St, Glasgow of all places - and their procedures. Nothing wrong with just admitting you were scared at armed polis kicking your door down.

[Vincent Fox]

Sounds remarkably like the "intelligence" which resulted in the notorious "45 minutes" claim.

[The Antagonist]

According to the Daily Mail, the brother of these guys is none other than Mohammed Abdullah Hasnath, one of the 'protesters' pictured alongside Omar Khyam, the the man who caused an uproar by prancing about in a 'suicide vest' earlier this year.

Everything appears to be connected.

[Osama Bin Lalluh]

Dear "The Antagonist", I am sure there is a connection somewhere. We are all cousins, you surtly must know that! That doesn't make make 2 wrongs against us a right one. The heart of the matter is this fascist and right wing atrocity!

[The Antagonist]

Dear Osama Bin Lalluh,

I too am sure there is a connection and would ask that you consider not whether two wrongs make a right which, of course, they don't, but instead the synchronicity of the events being discussed.