GUESS WOT

I am beginning to find this a bit of a joke and I am the only person taking this story seriously.

Abu Hamza: High Court judge halts extradition to the US.

If I was really boring I would count up how many "Abu Hamza deported" and "Abu Hamza: Extradition halted" blogs I had posted. Anyway turns out Mr Hamza can stay and in other news Its the end of the Monarchy. Otherwise nothing happened today.

Update: The BBC are taking it a bit more seriously.

also- the best thing written yet! Does Abu Hamza's non-deportation make you mad? Or maybe his detention without trial is making you angry? Blame unassimilated multiculturalism!

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SAY IT LIKE YOU MEAN IT

The BBC has apologised for revealing the Queen raised concerns with the government about why radical cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri had not been arrested. The apology comes after security correspondent Frank Gardner told BBC Radio 4 of a private conversation he had with the Queen some years ago.The BBC said it and Gardner were sorry for the "breach of confidence", which both "deeply regret"...

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Abu Hamza could be out of Britain in days after losing extradition appeal

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A quick look at how the Americans are covering this From CNN-

...He once described Britain as a "toilet" -- now, radical Muslim cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri is to be flushed out of the UK legal system and into a potential life sentence in America...

toilet? flush? geddit? Pretty snappy

 and ABC:

Abu Hamza Road Show

The Finsbury Park mosque imam is coming to America

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Hamza and The Queen

Seems I am not the only person in the UK to take an interest in Mr H. I am a bit bored of how many times I have posted here that he is going to be extradited, but it seems he actually is this time along with a few others. Lets see.

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CAUGHT ON CAMERA

...He told Press Gazette: "Because of where my office is based, I didn't get to cover the trial which was a shame. Whenever I read any of the stories from the trial, it just took me back to that moment all those months ago when I was just stood there watching it happen in front of my eyes.
"The same thing happens whenever I walk down that street now, I can just see it happening right in front of me all over again. It's one of those things that will be imprinted on my mind forever I think. Sort of like how I remember where I was when I heard Princess Diana had died."
After the incident he wrote about his experience on his blog: “Strolling along Norfolk Street just before 10am to go to the Post Office to pay my road tax, I never in a million years could have predicted the situation I was about to find myself in..

Probably a Robbery

Abu Hamza's son Imran Mostafa found guilty of £70,000 jewellery robbery

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CHURNALISM

This has been going round in cirlces for years and years eh. Abu Hamza appeals again, the tabloids are pulling out hair now

I had a dream. An Olympic dream.It was that - smack-bang in the middle of the Games, with British athletes winning medals by the fist-load - the nation would pause from enjoying the sport to watch a fanatic with hooks for hands being loaded on to a plane.
What a cause for celebration it would have been to finally see the back of Abu Hamza, after a decade-long extradition saga...

also, recently but I didn't find time to post, an article in The Telegraph which made me groan a bit. I'll try and correct the bits I know about, which are only the bits that refer to Atilla Ahmet

 Atilla Ahmet, a former football coach from Bromley, South London, was said to be the emir [leader] of a circle which recruited and trained the failed July 21 bombers, taking them on training camps and paintballing sessions before they joined al-Qaeda.

When did Atilla take anyone paintballing? Didn't come up at the trial. Strange that.

Oh and I hate bloggers new editing system.

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DEPORT DEM

 Abu Hamza's daughter-in-law caught smuggling SIM card into prison beneath burkha

Abu Hamza 'changes name to escape past'

Yeah I haven't really been keeping up on this at all. I don't consider myself any sort of campaigner anymore, I'd like to hear the US evidence against Mr Hamza, particularly what he said over the satellite phone in Yemen. I know one of the families surviving relatives confronted him about it, I don't know the result. I have had no contact with the rest of the campaigns this is all very interesting but a long way in the past for me. For me its all about this at the mo-

ITS ART INNIT

Yeah, came slewing to a halt on my bike this afternoon not cos of the intermittent rain but because I was passing the window of Nobrow press who I somehow hadn't noticed before though upon speaking to the guy behind the counter I found out that they had been there for two years and print their own line of very individual comics. I bought two and they were very reasonably priced as well.

 I haven't been blogging very much because I have been working on my own graphic novel which may or may not be connected to the subject matter of this blog (what do you think?)  An idea that hatched itself a long while ago was incubated in fear over a two year period then splurged out and wrote itself in a week and has since had an interesting journey through skill pages looking for an artist- and that's all I am saying for now.

Apart from all this I am going to The Great British Tattoo Show tomorrow looking for tattoo equipment as I want to start drawing on the bits of my legs which don't see the sun very often!

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IN AND OUT

U.K. Cleared to Send Terror Suspects to U.S.

Well I finally got through all the articles and on the way found that the Rev Coles has finally been "outed" (again!) by The Daily Mail and they have actually done a decent job of the story wonder of all wonders though without his consent. I met him after being directed his way by one of Hamza's cohorts after his arrest in 2005. I thought I would do it properly and went along to one of his church services. At the end when they have a really nice ritual where everyone greets the people around them the woman next to me started describing the trouble the Revered had with the congregation accepting him, and the penny dropped- and blew my mind.

Speaking to Rev Coles he asked me not to write anything connecting them so I didn't cos I didn't want to be responsible for "Hamza visited by gay vicar" in the tabloids. He is a really nice guy and I am glad the Daily Mail have reported his impressions of Hamza in full as these are the impressions I got as well.

From the rest of the news around the subject of deportation I noticed people rightly pointing out that the missing piece in the puzzle Haroon Rashid Aswat is curiously not on his way to the States. I am not really into conspiracy theories of any kind, but this one seems to hold weight as I heard from someone who was detained with him that he disappeared kicking and shouting in the night last seen sane so I am tempted to believe this one.

Also from the Daily Mail Rede Hassaine's account of his activities is very interesting, though reference to "the little known deal described as a covenant of security" is stupid as every Muslim would know of the covenant of security Hamza used to shout about all the time in the street as it is from the bloody Koran. Though none of the TV news broadcasters used to use these quotes pre 7/7 curiously.

I will try and get some reaction from those closer to Hamza, but I am not hopeful anyone will want to say anything at this time.

UPDATE: Not so sure about the Aswat thing as he was in a seperate block and his mental health issues at Long Lartin have been documented

ANOTHER UPDATE: Had to drop in a link to this interesting article about a trial in the US which seems to reference almost every terror trial and act everywhere in the west to date.
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DEPORTATION BLOG COMING

Yes, I know the Europeans have finally decided to deport Abu Hamza . I found out mid tangle with the gurgling toad Buddha and the computers are very strict there. Well everything is very strict there but more about that later. I was paying back my debt serving in the kitchen this time but was still pretty intense. I will read through all the news about Hamza over the next few days and maybe try and get some sort of reaction from those who used to be closer to him. I wonder if people in the States will pick up this blog as he heads over there..

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BOUT FOOKIN TIME

Something I have been hoping for for most of this blog, loads of Bradford folks trying to live together. Make Bradford British on 4OD

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PROUD AND PREJUDICED

Proud and Prejudiced on Channel 4OD looks like it was really fun to film and covers a whole lot of stuff around Luton, including the Breivik "connection" and the EDLs visit to Tower Hamlets. Good access to Sayful Islam as well who is notoriously difficult to speak to with a camera running.

Here is Sayful talking about Elephants

And here he is slapping Tommy Robinson in the face.

BOOKMARKS

I just use this blog to bookmark stuff these days, maybe I will film something again soon.

Here you go in The Telegraph-

Muslim prisoners issue rallying call from behind bars

which apparently refers to the site Muslimprisoners.com

I wonder how much the news agenda has moved on from Islamic Extremism. I was pleased to see Stacey Dooley's look into her home town of Luton on the BBC. Take a look and see what you think.

My Hometown Fanatics

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JUMPING JESUS JEHOSOPHAT ON THE CROSS

Something I have been suggesting for most of this blog has happened, last November apparently-

MPs visit Abu Hamza in prison to gain his views on radicalisation

...Hamza, 53, who was jailed for seven years in February 2006 for inciting murder and race hate, spoke to MPs from the jail as he fights extradition to the United States on terror charges.

Members of the Commons Home Affairs Select Committee visited Hamza at the prison on November 28 last year.

Their report on the roots of violent radicalisation said: ''Abu Hamza believed the drivers of radicalisation to be grievance, guilt and capability.

''Grievances were driven by British foreign policy (relating to Palestine and Afghanistan) and a sense that the Prophet was being mocked.''

It went on: ''He did not believe that unemployment was a source of grievance, and considered that groups who suggested it was were 'blackmailing' the Government for funding.

''Guilt was driven by a feeling that you were safe but your brother was not and you could not help him.''

The report also said that Hamza denied that his sermons contributed to radicalisation.

''He believed it was enough for people to watch the news to be radicalised and in any case he condemned the 'wrong kind of violence', where third parties were injured or killed,'' it said.

''He told Muslims to express their grievances and guilt through lobbying, donating money and educating people.''

The report went on: ''In terms of radicalisation in prisons, Mr Abu Hamza noted that prisons were a good environment for contemplation and that it was usual for prisoners to seek to re-evaluate their lives.''...

Racism on Public Trasport

You've seen the racist woman on tram video? Now watch this



here is the original which was in the news

LESSONS LEARNED

Not sure how these stories get in the papers. I cannot imagine why Abu Hamza or Abu Qatada would not still be in secure units separated from other prisoners but apparently-


TWO of Britain’s most radical terrorists are preaching hate from behind bars, the Sunday Mirror can reveal.

Hook-handed cleric Abu Hamza and Al-Qaeda chief Abu Qatada are delivering sermons to younger, impressionable inmates at high-security jail Belmarsh.

The details emerged in a letter from IT graduate Bilal ­Ahmad, 23, who is serving 12 years for ­advocating ­attacks on MPs and inciting racial hatred...

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ITS YOU

I haven't had a lot of contact with Youtube about my page. Once someone ripped off some of my films and re edited them into something. I contacted Youtube and they took the video down. A while back I noticed that they had marked one of my videos rejected: (content inappropriate). A bit strange as this was the video the Sun stole and put on their website marked Exclusive! (see: IT WOZ THE SUN WOT RIPPED ME OFF) Anyway someone from Holland also ripped off my film and reposted it here.

Centre for Identities and Social Justice

I went to the launch of Centre for Identities and Social Justice tonight as it is nearby and looked interesting. I am always a bit suspect of these academia driven things, preferring to hear from people who actually get stuck into these issues on the ground. The person most grounded in this respect, Akeela Ahmed I didn't hear much from but there was a very interesting guy in the discussion afterwards who was talking about working in prisons. Everyone on the panel was saying useful stuff about the pitfalls of the prevent agenda. I will keep an eye on what these guys are up to. I am not sure if what I have been up to could be considered "research". I tried to convince Hajj (one of Abu Hamza's posse) to come with me but without any luck again.

Centre for Identities and Social Justice website
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MORE ROBERT

Obviously the guys I was filming from Finsbury are not going to like this guy. I asked Hajj to come with me to an event around his book launch but he didn't want to come, saying he had no interest in government lies and stories. I don't know, and I missed the event in the end due to personal reasons. From this article, I think the guy is more interesting than that.



The former Metropolitan policeman Robert Lambert has been scoffed at as a dangerous buffoon.

In the eyes of British right-wing pundits, his assiduous efforts to develop working relationships between the police and London Islamists demonstrated that he should never have occupied a position of public responsibility.

At a time of fresh arrests in Britain of terrorist suspects, Lambert has delivered a powerful riposte to his critics in the shape of a major study of the theory and practice of combatting terrorism....

There was a load of misunderstanding and power struggles in the Finsbury story that I wasn't a party to so can't comment. I will have to get hold of the book and get back to you after I have run the major points of it past Hajj, who is keeping well by the way. Always nice to visit him.

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WORKING WITH THE POLICE

Fascinating article about a book by retired Policeman Robert Lambert who set up undercover Police group "The Muslim Contact Unit" to eventually oust Atilla and co from Finsbury. His book should be a very interesting read for me.

...The new policy has seen the withdrawal of funding for groups the government says are non-violent extremists - organisations that it says oppose "fundamental and universal" British values.

"All of the 40 or 50 Muslims who came to my retirement are all probably now classed as non-violent extremists," says Bob Lambert. "That's absurd. One minute they are partners, the next they are not."

The former Special Branch officer says his years in the force taught him that too much is at stake.

"It's in the nature of terrorism as a tactic that it only has to secure a small number of people in order to achieve its goals," he says. "I think we need to be much more creative about how we counter that."...



I just found an article by this guy for Al Jazeera and from a very different experience and perspective we seem to have reached similar views-

...by funding Quilliam to work in Prevent the government has licensed a counter-subversion strategy that is antithetical to effective and legitimate community based approaches to counter-terrorism

In contrast to Husain, many experienced Muslim community youth workers involved in Prevent have never been in any doubt that they do not spy on communities under any circumstances.

Unlike Husain they work at the sharp-end and are clear that the only time they will divulge confidential client information to police or other Prevent partners is when they have reasonable suspicion of involvement in serious criminal activity.

As Arun Kundnani explains, "it is right that channels should be made available for youth workers and teachers to provide information to the police if there are reasons to believe an individual is involved in criminality".

That is a basic rule of youth work in inner city areas where Muslim youth workers adhere to the same ground rules that apply in a wide range of government funded programmes aimed at tackling gun, gang, drug and other kinds of street crime.

It would take more than a Prevent 'Information Sharing Agreement' to persuade an effective Muslim youth worker to abandon the golden rule of effective community engagement in dangerous environments.

It is one thing for Husain to justify spying on "radical" Muslims from the comfort of a Westminster office, quite another for Muslims working on dangerous streets to be wrongly smeared as "informers" when their integrity deserves to be bolstered not undermined.

Good Prevent work takes place on poor urban British streets every day. It helps reduce the influence of violent extremists.

However, it owes everything to the integrity of Muslim youth workers, police and local government officials who focus wholly on their original remit.

Their work is seriously undermined by government support for Quilliam and the counter-subversion strategy it embodies...

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