OOONA

Oona's diaries are interesting

LIONHEART

Today, the British police want to question and/or arrest the British blogger known as Lionheart. His crime? Turning his life around as a young school dropout and petty drug dealer and emerging as a believing Christian who opposes the drug plague in his hometown of Luton and who views the Pakistani Islamist and al-Qaeda control of the drug trade in Luton as both criminally and politically dangerous. For this, Lionheart has been charged with “stirring up racial hatred”—which is a crime in the UK.

Yes, Luton—where the 7/7 suicide bombers, Omar Bakri, and the hook-handed Abu Hamza of the Finsbury Park Mosque all came from.

(err... I don't think they did.)

In fact, according to Lionheart, one of his supporters is Glen Jenvey, the man who helped imprison Abu Hamza and aided in the expulsion of Omar Bakri from Great Britain.

The article goes on to an interview with Lionheart his blog is here.

TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS

I managed a coupla hours down at Belmarsh watching the prosecution summing up against Hamid and a bit of the case against Mousah Brown... Yeah anyway. I was going to go back tomorrow and watch Mr Bennathan summing up for the defence but, err... I don't think so.

The jury might well retire to consider their verdict by Monday.

OBAMA?

Hail the rise of the new JFK

I don't get sucked in to believing in Politics anymore these days. Blair nailed that coffin pretty soon after he took power. I have been watching events in the States with a lot of amusement through the lense of Sparklevision mainly, and also on UK Channel 4 News a bit. Before a vote was cast I didn't fancy Obama's chances against this "Hillary machine", and I don't think anyone over in Sparkleland did. Now things look a lot different don't they? I think Obama could win. That is presuming the neoCONS don't do the funny buisness with the chads eh. His oposition is hillarious, especially that Romney guy. He'd address the nation in shirtsleeves with one of those flip charts.

My spies tell me the prosecution in Hamid and others trial is summing up today. I'm heading down.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Hope its a good one. For new Years Eve we managed to get on to the Fish seeks Bicycle stage at the very last minute. We didn't get on till 6 AM and the style we ended up playing didn't really suit the stage we were on. The performers looked great from where I was standing and I think the audience enjoyed them. Was a great party run by a well sound crew and we got a lot of inspiration from the other acts to incorporate a more structured dance set into the show. We were joined at the last minute by a very random saxophonist who I had met previously years ago playing by a fire in the meadows on the edge of Oxford. We aren't going to play live for a couple of months now, we will experiment with midi drum kit and vocoder as I haven't really used the thing in anger yet.

Michael Moore has an interesting take on the US elections here

The gig went ok. It felt good to be running our own free night. We played two sets interspersed with good drum and bass from DJs Charlie Mountain and DV8. We'll do it again soon.

myspace.com/wearetheimpossible

HAWKBOLLOCKS

Our gig the other day was a bit crap because we were all coming down with flu and the set up was such that we couldn't really hear each other. One of the promoters said we were operating a "high risk strategy" improvising live on the spot. It started like a good idea back in the days of Camberwell basements. We'd all build up mad waves to crescendos and smash them to a halt over and over followed by one of us saying

"OK. So we'll play that one then."

Every one a winner.

The first Tottenham gig worked well too, maybe because we were following some great and varied bands. I still haven't heard the recordings yet but we had lots of spontaneous reactions including random people getting up on stage and shouting etc.

Still a bit ill I got to see Hawkwind the other night at their regular London solstice (ish) bash. Maybe they had the excuse of being a bit flu-ridden too but they weren't very good. All the what people from my way used to call "greebo" biker rock with none of the psychedelia. All the "classic Hawkwind swirlings" were handled by a long haired guy with a Theromin. Now I like theromin but by the fifth or sixth time this guy made kettle boiling noises I really wanted him to stick it up his fucking arse.

The dancers were great, but their costumes were terrible. Maybe the original Hawkwind should stop all their childish feuding and reform. Don't know. Don't really give a fuck. Even the die hard old Hawkwind fan I went with hated it. Don't know what I was expecting having seen what Psychedelia moved onto circa 1994-5 with Juno Reactor et al, and that sounds dated now.

After her conviction, Judge Peter Beaumont, the recorder of London, told her: “You have been, in many respects, a complete enigma to me.”
The judge sentencing Malik said her crime was on the “margins” of the offence of which she was found guilty. He said Malik was of “good character”. He added, “The Terrorism Act and the restrictions it imposes on the personal freedom exist to protect this country, its interests here and abroad, its citizens, and those who visit here."

An organisation campaigning on behalf of Muslim prisoners in British jails is a front for extremists run by a banned cleric, the Evening Standard can reveal.
Captive Support claims to be a human rights group, monitoring inmates’ welfare and calling for their release.
On Saturday it held its first big conference at Friends House, a meeting venue run by the Quakers in Euston Road.

AM I A LIB DEM?

An ex copper for mayor? How could I be into that? Now- the day after the new Lib Dem leader takes over he starts talking about Brian Eno. Could I be a lib-dem?

NESSIE

AN ELECTRICIAN accused of being a Muslim holy warrior claimed he was hunting Nessie during an alleged jihad training course.

Somali-born Kader Ahmed, 20, told a court he went on a trip arranged by preacher Mohammed Hamid, 50, to Scotland at Christmas 2004.

He said they visited Inverness and Loch Ness and added: "I'd never been to Scotland before. It was very cold when we went up. It was snowing.

"It was very beautiful as well. I had never seen reindeer before."

He said they stopped near Loch Ness for a few days, sleeping in their minibus as it was too cold to camp, and tried to spot the elusive monster.

Ahmed, from east London, admits going on camping trips and paintballing sessions with Hamid's group, who included four of the men later convicted of the plot to bomb London on July 21, 2005.

HYPNOTIC BRASS

Saw these guys in Covent Garden today entertaining the Christmas Shoppers.

HUMBUG

...Malcolm Middleton's song We're All Going To Die promises to be an antidote to the usual helping of festive cheer...

And here is someone who didn't want to die alone.

Merry Xmas!

SON OF AL QAEDA

This is probably the most interesting insight into Bin Laden, Al Qaeda and the CIA I have seen.


Son Of Al Qaeda PART 2 "Life with Bin Laden's family" continues here

also C.I.A. Destroyed Tapes of Interrogations

THE END

OK. Had just about as much as I can stand of the Hamid show, and I think, bar a few DVDs it is over. Has the taxpayer got their money's worth? I suppose so, syphoned through the costume drama of court. A jury have had explained to them a whole load of stuff both sides deemed necessary. Good luck to them.

"52 is not even breakfast? How many is breakfast for you Mr. Hamid?"

Mr prosecution finnished in his squeaky, nasal voice. Hunched over, finger and bottom lip protruding throughout he finally sat down slowly and dramatically. After more than two days both he and Hamid had stopped addressing each other almost entirely, turning to the jury instead.



These are the conversations of very British Islamists as recorded by the Police in 2005. I hope they are released and become part of some sort of curiculum. Fascinating.

I think the Old Bailey is a much easier place to follow a case as the public gallery entrance is totally separate. You don't have to walk past lawyers and senior anti-terror Police and you can also take notes. Its been nice to meet some of Hamid's family and a couple of the journalists anyway but for now I've had quite enough. As you can imagine I have lots of stories from those involved which will appear when the jury have reached a verdict.

I suppose the cases against Moussa Brown et al will take us up to Christmas, but err... not for me thanks. I've met Hamid on enough occasions to be interested in his plight and how it connects to Ailla Ahmet. I needed to see how he would explain himself. I don't know the others and would feel I was gawping at their predicament. I'm feeling quite toxic from the whole process now.

IN THE HOT HOUSE

Hamid seemed exasperated being asked about Atilla's statements. Some of them he agreed with, some of them he didn't. Some of them he was out of the room getting food. He was asked about Atilla's statements about those higher up in power being legitimate targets. Why didn't he stand up and say that is wrong? He said he followed it straight away by saying

"Fight only those who fight you."

What did he mean by sacrifice?

"Mr Bennathan (Hamid's QC) is sacrificing by being here when he could be in the Bahama's."

He said many people could attest to the fact that he warned people to stay away from Finsbury park Mosque. He had met top Muslim scholars as well as a Muslim Lord. The trustees of Finsbury park mosque could back him up. what seemed like the most incriminating statements of his he attributed to being talk about drugs, or he said he couldn't remember.

The jury asked for a scholar to verify what Hamid was referring to in the Koran. One of the jury handed up a note which said that Hamid seemed to avoid answering the question, instead going into a sermon about the Koran. Hamid said that a lot of what he was on trial for was attributable to the Koran.

What had he said to Atilla outside the Bridge to China which led Atilla to tell the group to get their story straight? He said he had read an article connecting the 21/7 bombers to training camps in the lake district and was paranoid. If they were arrested he didn't want people to tell fairy tales and give false names etc. He thought he could be sent to the States, or Guantanamo or whatever so he didn't want anyone to be able to say the wrong thing if they were infiltrated.

It was all very hard work and the court, which is usually too cold was way too hot today.

The Sun,

DREAMS OF SHIT AND HANGING

I woke up with a start this morning. I had one of those epic dreams which seems to go on forever. The low points were horrible. I was working in a restaurant. One of the staff pushed someone in with a rope around their neck, threw the other end over a high rafter and hung the person he was shouting at everyone else brandishing a gun. Everyone knew this person and was in fear of him. I was also, though I had a little gun in my pocket I was scared to try and use it and miss. I went down to the basement of the restaurant with this person and pretended to make small talk, clearing the tables.

In another part of this dream I was wandering with a group of people who were all naked. We reached a sort of marble platform which had plants intertwined with strange metal structures. needed a dump and told the others it was OK to shit anywhere. Pretty soon there was what looked like big rabbit droppings in amongst the plants. Then a group of people in chefs clothes came and started pouring chocolate onto the plateau. We hadn't realised it was a chocolate making facility and didn't tell them we had shit on it.

What is all that about then?

I have been able to get to the trial a couple of times. Cross examination is supposed to be the most interesting part but in this case it hasn't been. Its all a bit predictable. I would say it was a "boring score draw" between Hamid and the prosecution.

"You are a terrorist recruiter"

"No I'm not."

etc etc.

Hamid appears to be playing himself with his "I can assure you 150 percent"s and "I couldn't tell you pecifically" , I'm not sure who the prosecution guy is playing.

Hamid said he belonged to one of the same "four schools" that 90% of Muslims belong to. He added that Hamza had banned these schools from Finsbury park Mosque.

The day before yesterday was a bit more interesting as we had some live witnesses incliding Phil Rees. I got a chance to speak to him and had a look at his site after, I didn't realise he was behind probably the only "War on Terror" based stuff I have seen on TV that I liked.

Nasreen Suleaman, who had found all of the people who appeared in "Don't Panic I'm Islamic" also gave evidence and appeared in the Sun the next day for her trouble. the most interesting witness was a young Turkish Muslim who took over the witness box and told the court off for holding Hamid, as he was innocent. He said Hamid had always tried to steer him to the correct path, away from drugs and crime which had worked sometimes. He had never been in favour of or tried to recruit him for terrorism. He leaned right in to the Microphone to talk about conspiracy theories etc and didn't want to leave at the end, again protesting Hamid's innocence.

Another bearded young Muslim from Weybridge claimed Hamid had helped him get off alchoholism and lent him the money to accompany his group on a trip to Morrocco. He hadn't paid the full amount back. Cross examined he said that on the trip everyone argued with everyone else. They were angry with him because he snored loudly in the van. The trip was a success in that they achieved their aim of getting to Morrocco and getting back.

A very fetching blonde Irish woman spoke, saying she was an athiest who often talked to Hamid at his dawah stall and over coffee. She said he was frequesntly abused by passers by who called him "terrorist" and that when she was with him, passing Muslims also abused him for talking to her, calling her "Kaffir".

In the afternoon the defence showed the jury some of Hamid's conspiracy theory videos starting with Illuminazi, at which point I left because I've seen them all a long time ago. The Turkish Muslim guy who gave evidence gave me a couple of leaflets which had been on Hamid's stall including Terrorism and Islam: Exploding the Myths.

Yesterday I managed a few hours of cross examination which went back to the You're a terrorist recruiter- No I'm not strand of peculiarity. The prosecution guy is saying he is, Hamid is saying he isn't. For more information click on the links below.

Cheers.

Times, The Sun, The Sun again,The Mirror, Daily Mail, UPI ,etc

All of this has been synthesised from one journalist's work. Cos he is working for an agency he doesn't get credited so I'll credit him here. Well done Paddy.

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