Got this from a young Muslim kid in Spain-
just out ov interest r u gay cuz u look a bit liek a junkie in ur videos not meanin offence.
November 30, 2007
November 27, 2007
VERY CROSS EXAMINATION
Joel asked Hamid about his relationship with Hassan. He said he knew him but not that well. When he heard he had missed his flight and had his passport confiscated he asked a friendly journalist who passed by his dawah stall what he could do. He took down the address of some lawyers and this note was referred to in evidence.
He was asked about Atilla's deteriorating mental state. Hamid said he was upset that Atilla had done the CNN interview and didn't agree with what he had said. In the Bridge to China he was boasting about how he said the Police, banks, MPs were all targets. He had "let them have it". Hamid said he didn't even invite Atilla and was annoyed to see him there. He said the restaurant wasn't the place to discuss such matters and that they should go to a park or something.
He was asked about the conversation which went on outside with Atilla. He said it was something about a conversation he had with lawyers asking him to give evidence at the 21/7 trial and that he and Atilla helped push a strangers car to get it started. In Belmarsh he and Atilla were on the same wing and he heard Atilla crying and said he was "cracking". He said Atilla accused him of being a spy when he went out of the jail to hospital for his sinus twice. He said there was no way that Atilla thought he was guilty but he had no faith in the justice system.
Hugh Mullan, representing Kader Ahmed got up and asked Hamid some questions.
Between them they agreed that Kader was quiet and helpful. He didn't like Atilla as he was aggressive in tone and criticized other Muslims committing "taqfir" (?). Hamid said that Kader had asked him why Atilla was the emir as he didn't even come camping or turn up on time for meetings.
The cross examination started.
Hamid claimed he had learnt leopard crawling at borstal. There were often teachers there who were ex-military. This training was to defend yourself and to be ready for the time when the madhi comes and Muslims will have to defend themselves.
The judge asked Hamid when this would be.
Hamid answered 30 years? 20 years? 10 years? He didn't know when Iran or Syria was going to be attacked. If Saudi was invaded this was a Holy place for all Muslims who would have to defend it.
The prosecution referred to him saying "Hurry up" on the camera phone evidence of people leopard crawling in the New Forest. He said he was telling them to hurry because he had a low battery on his mobile. Just because people were holding a stick as a gun didn't make it an AK47. The judge stopped the prosecution referring to AK47s and said he should refer to "guns". He said it was training for situations abroad where there were guns like Iraq or Afghanistan which Hamid denied. Hamid said it was not training for terrorist attacks.
The prosecution guy was hunched over saying that Hamid had spoke of knowing trainers in Afghanistan. He said he was exaggerating. He had held an AK47 but hadn't fired it. The prosecution could check for themselves. He was in and out of the refugee camps in two days with no time for training. Before 9/11 it was all legal. He said that if the prosecution could find any incriminating phone call to Afghanistan he would plead guilty. He held his wrists out.
He made a bit of a speech to the jury. The judge asked him to go a bit slower for the stenographer who was having a heart attack. Joel also asked him to slow down. The prosecution guy and Hamid were leaned toward each other, Hamid with crossed arms, angry. The prosecution guy isn't very good. He didn't seem very well prepared and kept loosing his place, taking ages to find his cross-references in his files. He's sort of doing an impression of a crown barrister, but not a very good one.
The judge tried to help make sense of it all, asking to play tapes that the prosecution referred to. Hamid claimed that he only camped 300 feet from the road. They were talking about secrecy because they didn't have a lot of money and the camp sites were closed. They didn't want to get moved on. The news had been full of people accused of Jihadi training in Wales etc. Hamid loved camping and didn't want to stop just because "busybodies" would think they were up to something. Proceedings were halted because a jury member started banging her head on the table feeling unwell.
(UPDATE: Please don't post anything which could be considered extra-judicial evidence below. email me, dave*at*socialistwanker.com and I promise I will post it here when the trial is over- THANKS)
He was asked about Atilla's deteriorating mental state. Hamid said he was upset that Atilla had done the CNN interview and didn't agree with what he had said. In the Bridge to China he was boasting about how he said the Police, banks, MPs were all targets. He had "let them have it". Hamid said he didn't even invite Atilla and was annoyed to see him there. He said the restaurant wasn't the place to discuss such matters and that they should go to a park or something.
He was asked about the conversation which went on outside with Atilla. He said it was something about a conversation he had with lawyers asking him to give evidence at the 21/7 trial and that he and Atilla helped push a strangers car to get it started. In Belmarsh he and Atilla were on the same wing and he heard Atilla crying and said he was "cracking". He said Atilla accused him of being a spy when he went out of the jail to hospital for his sinus twice. He said there was no way that Atilla thought he was guilty but he had no faith in the justice system.
Hugh Mullan, representing Kader Ahmed got up and asked Hamid some questions.
Between them they agreed that Kader was quiet and helpful. He didn't like Atilla as he was aggressive in tone and criticized other Muslims committing "taqfir" (?). Hamid said that Kader had asked him why Atilla was the emir as he didn't even come camping or turn up on time for meetings.
The cross examination started.
Hamid claimed he had learnt leopard crawling at borstal. There were often teachers there who were ex-military. This training was to defend yourself and to be ready for the time when the madhi comes and Muslims will have to defend themselves.
The judge asked Hamid when this would be.
Hamid answered 30 years? 20 years? 10 years? He didn't know when Iran or Syria was going to be attacked. If Saudi was invaded this was a Holy place for all Muslims who would have to defend it.
The prosecution referred to him saying "Hurry up" on the camera phone evidence of people leopard crawling in the New Forest. He said he was telling them to hurry because he had a low battery on his mobile. Just because people were holding a stick as a gun didn't make it an AK47. The judge stopped the prosecution referring to AK47s and said he should refer to "guns". He said it was training for situations abroad where there were guns like Iraq or Afghanistan which Hamid denied. Hamid said it was not training for terrorist attacks.
The prosecution guy was hunched over saying that Hamid had spoke of knowing trainers in Afghanistan. He said he was exaggerating. He had held an AK47 but hadn't fired it. The prosecution could check for themselves. He was in and out of the refugee camps in two days with no time for training. Before 9/11 it was all legal. He said that if the prosecution could find any incriminating phone call to Afghanistan he would plead guilty. He held his wrists out.
He made a bit of a speech to the jury. The judge asked him to go a bit slower for the stenographer who was having a heart attack. Joel also asked him to slow down. The prosecution guy and Hamid were leaned toward each other, Hamid with crossed arms, angry. The prosecution guy isn't very good. He didn't seem very well prepared and kept loosing his place, taking ages to find his cross-references in his files. He's sort of doing an impression of a crown barrister, but not a very good one.
The judge tried to help make sense of it all, asking to play tapes that the prosecution referred to. Hamid claimed that he only camped 300 feet from the road. They were talking about secrecy because they didn't have a lot of money and the camp sites were closed. They didn't want to get moved on. The news had been full of people accused of Jihadi training in Wales etc. Hamid loved camping and didn't want to stop just because "busybodies" would think they were up to something. Proceedings were halted because a jury member started banging her head on the table feeling unwell.
(UPDATE: Please don't post anything which could be considered extra-judicial evidence below. email me, dave*at*socialistwanker.com and I promise I will post it here when the trial is over- THANKS)
November 26, 2007
PLAYING IT AGAIN
Gig was great. Really nice to be playing after such varied and interesting bands. 3.30 AM is the best time to play. We were last up and encouraged to take as long as we wanted. I actually started pulling a few guitar hero posses for the first time in my life. I had no problems at the soundcheck but I don't think I managed to get my loop box working for the entire gig and my wah wah mysteriously stopped switching on towards the end. Great fun though and great reception with random people dancing on the stage and a friend inspired to come up and start shouting at the audience along with our music.
The gig was recorded so hopefully some music coming...
The gig was recorded so hopefully some music coming...
November 23, 2007
STRANGE BREAKFAST
I walked in ten minutes late.
"Did Atilla mean to encourage people to go out and commit acts of violence that day? next week?"
"Atilla hasn't got an aggressive bone in his body. He doesn't mean any harm to anyone."
He was asked about his stuff about "Taking off heads"
"That is in majority Muslim countries who are ruled over by dictators. You've got to fight them. This is from the Koran- a situation the prophet was dealing with at the time.
There was a lot of stuff about the meanings behind what he and Atilla said.
What was this business about an inner circle?
He wanted to be organised, get a community centre. Do everything legally.
How did this go?
It fell apart the next week. People who lived near somewhere worth looking at didn't even go. People didn't take any responsibilities.
He was asked about Dawood.
"Lovely guy. The best of the best of the people there."
He had a lot of problem with peoples time keeping, and people who said they were going to do things and didn't. Dawood wasn't like this. He was on time, always willing to use his car to pick people up, he would suggest things. He would never accept petrol money from anyone.
"Even seeing him in the witness box I can't feel bad towards him."
At this point all of the Anti-terror guys would have made a great picture. I wonder if they will be looking up into the public gallery to gauge the reaction when Hamid is cross examined.
He was asked about a bit more of Atilla's stuff.
"He means the fight with the tongue. All in the room would have taken it as such. He means when the Mahdi (A sort of messiah figure) comes back ."
He explained this as a time when one third of Muslims would run, a third would die fighting and the remaining third would be victorious.
I hadn't heard it put so well before and was left thinking if Stephen Dawkins, (who I don't usually like) might be right about his "virus of faith" theory. This is that self fulfilling prophesy thing. Get a group of people who believe they will have to fight everyone else to survive at some point in the future, they look for those signs. they prepare for them. Christians do the same. They draw this destiny to themselves and the rest of us are stuck in it. At times like this I sort of think the noblest of the many fractured reasons why I started this come into play. This is what I tried to get to know Atilla for. I want no part in these destinies written in books long ago. Surely inter community relations outside of government is the most important thing at the moment.
The prosecution only interjected twice to complain, once about "What did Atilla intend..." as he can't know someone else's intentions, only what he took statements to mean. The other time was to remind the jury that Atilla had pleaded guilty on the passage referred to. This made a lot clearer to me the tensions joining Hamid and Atilla would create between them. This was a clever move on the part of the prosecution.
Hamid sort of said everything which would appear inflammatory on the tapes was either from the Koran or referring to a spiritual fight. Marble Arch was his front line and he was there six days a week. There was a contract of peace between Muslims and this country as they had total freedom to practice their religion and there was a Koranic ban on suicide or harming innocents.
He explained everything Atilla was saying as referring to protest. He said both of them exaggerate, are unclear and talk plain cobblers sometimes.
"Cockneys call it Cock and Bull".
Late afternoon we got to the interesting bit about his "breakfast" statement
Hamid explained that Atilla had been verbally abusive to his wife which he didn't like to hear in front of his grandchildren and all the others on the camp site. He hadn't heard Atilla singing any Jihadi calypso and earlier when others had complained about filling in forms, he had reminded them it was common practice on all campsites. Atilla was really loosing it.
"When he said "I want to pack it in, walk it where it wants to be walked and let it go " what was he referring to?"
"Suicide bombing."
"Would he do this?"
"No. Never. Not ever."
Hamid explained that his reply was an attempt to address Atilla on his level. There was never any point in directly opposing things Atilla said as he would dig his heels in. He was saying- why would you commit suicide? If I wanted to bomb I would use my intelligence and bomb and get away with it like Jack the Ripper. This wasn't stating an intention to bomb. It was telling Atilla not to commit suicide.
As I said the Anti-Terror guys looked really worried, confronted as they were with Hamids simple charm, slightly skewed cockneyisms and "Plepeated Uranium". Remembering the Hamza case it also came across like this at this stage so I wouldn't be thinking he was home and dry quite yet. Hamid is very, very different to Hamza but he is using a similar argument.
The "Britishness" of the personalities of all these fundamentalists is fascinating.
"Did Atilla mean to encourage people to go out and commit acts of violence that day? next week?"
"Atilla hasn't got an aggressive bone in his body. He doesn't mean any harm to anyone."
He was asked about his stuff about "Taking off heads"
"That is in majority Muslim countries who are ruled over by dictators. You've got to fight them. This is from the Koran- a situation the prophet was dealing with at the time.
There was a lot of stuff about the meanings behind what he and Atilla said.
What was this business about an inner circle?
He wanted to be organised, get a community centre. Do everything legally.
How did this go?
It fell apart the next week. People who lived near somewhere worth looking at didn't even go. People didn't take any responsibilities.
He was asked about Dawood.
"Lovely guy. The best of the best of the people there."
He had a lot of problem with peoples time keeping, and people who said they were going to do things and didn't. Dawood wasn't like this. He was on time, always willing to use his car to pick people up, he would suggest things. He would never accept petrol money from anyone.
"Even seeing him in the witness box I can't feel bad towards him."
At this point all of the Anti-terror guys would have made a great picture. I wonder if they will be looking up into the public gallery to gauge the reaction when Hamid is cross examined.
He was asked about a bit more of Atilla's stuff.
"He means the fight with the tongue. All in the room would have taken it as such. He means when the Mahdi (A sort of messiah figure) comes back ."
He explained this as a time when one third of Muslims would run, a third would die fighting and the remaining third would be victorious.
I hadn't heard it put so well before and was left thinking if Stephen Dawkins, (who I don't usually like) might be right about his "virus of faith" theory. This is that self fulfilling prophesy thing. Get a group of people who believe they will have to fight everyone else to survive at some point in the future, they look for those signs. they prepare for them. Christians do the same. They draw this destiny to themselves and the rest of us are stuck in it. At times like this I sort of think the noblest of the many fractured reasons why I started this come into play. This is what I tried to get to know Atilla for. I want no part in these destinies written in books long ago. Surely inter community relations outside of government is the most important thing at the moment.
The prosecution only interjected twice to complain, once about "What did Atilla intend..." as he can't know someone else's intentions, only what he took statements to mean. The other time was to remind the jury that Atilla had pleaded guilty on the passage referred to. This made a lot clearer to me the tensions joining Hamid and Atilla would create between them. This was a clever move on the part of the prosecution.
Hamid sort of said everything which would appear inflammatory on the tapes was either from the Koran or referring to a spiritual fight. Marble Arch was his front line and he was there six days a week. There was a contract of peace between Muslims and this country as they had total freedom to practice their religion and there was a Koranic ban on suicide or harming innocents.
He explained everything Atilla was saying as referring to protest. He said both of them exaggerate, are unclear and talk plain cobblers sometimes.
"Cockneys call it Cock and Bull".
Late afternoon we got to the interesting bit about his "breakfast" statement
Hamid explained that Atilla had been verbally abusive to his wife which he didn't like to hear in front of his grandchildren and all the others on the camp site. He hadn't heard Atilla singing any Jihadi calypso and earlier when others had complained about filling in forms, he had reminded them it was common practice on all campsites. Atilla was really loosing it.
"When he said "I want to pack it in, walk it where it wants to be walked and let it go " what was he referring to?"
"Suicide bombing."
"Would he do this?"
"No. Never. Not ever."
Hamid explained that his reply was an attempt to address Atilla on his level. There was never any point in directly opposing things Atilla said as he would dig his heels in. He was saying- why would you commit suicide? If I wanted to bomb I would use my intelligence and bomb and get away with it like Jack the Ripper. This wasn't stating an intention to bomb. It was telling Atilla not to commit suicide.
As I said the Anti-Terror guys looked really worried, confronted as they were with Hamids simple charm, slightly skewed cockneyisms and "Plepeated Uranium". Remembering the Hamza case it also came across like this at this stage so I wouldn't be thinking he was home and dry quite yet. Hamid is very, very different to Hamza but he is using a similar argument.
The "Britishness" of the personalities of all these fundamentalists is fascinating.
November 22, 2007
TRIALWATCHING
If you do it, bring a good book. If only because it is good for studiously ignoring people you are nervous around. I am currently reading Cherio's Language of the Hand. I tried Will Self's Great Apes but gave up after a day fearful that my head would explode. I also finished Islam's Black Slaves.
ONES, SEVENS NINES AND ELEVENS
OK. I wrote notes in the breaks. Not sure how complete this is going to be but the trade off of being face to face above the jury rather than behind Hamid with the journalists is going OK. The occasional argument with court staff, but its an uncomfortable situation. I'd spoken to Musa and Mrs Atilla about yesterday and both came down rather worried. Joel greeted them and Atilla's two year old daughter warmly totally unaware of who they were. They were certainly unaware it was him who had cast aspersions on Atilla's character the day before. Neither stayed long enough to hear Atilla's name brought up late afternoon.
Anyway from the beginning.
Joel asked Hamid if he had friends who were Jihadi trainers in Afghanistan as he had claimed at one of his house meetings. He said that was cobblers. he had made that up to impress people. He exaggerates things to make himself look better.
We heard this morning of Hamids many trips abroad. Working with an Islamic relief charity over the road from his Islamic book shop in Hackney he picked up enough medical equipment from Kingston hospital to fill 9 40 foot shipping containers. The biggest available. He met these containers at the port in Karachi where it took 9 days to clear them, split them into lorry loads and set off into Afghanistan. This was 2002. (I later heard an excited journalist comparing this to the dates when the Crevice plotters were in Pakistan.)
He drove with the trucks to various refugee camps where they were received by hospitals along with food. Next he spoke of a trip they planned to Grenada. they were detained by anti-terror Police for 9 hours on the way out. One of the Policemen who was OK with them gave them a cup of tea and said that they had been detained too long to attempt a trip to Southern Spain and suggested they go to Bordeaux (?) instead, where the second longest sand dune in the world was. You could camp where you wanted etc. They took this advice, loved it and have been back since. We saw film of them running about, breaking off sticks, running up and down hills. At one point they reach a depression in the ground where Hamid declares an Alien spaceship is going to land.
He also drove to Loch Ness in the snow, which was beautiful. We were introduced to the camping trips Hamid organised to the Lake District. He had found the place the morning after a long and fruitless search which had ended up with them all sleeping in their cars. They drove up in the morning and knocked on the door of what looked like an abandoned property. Unsure what to do they pitched the tent up hill, visible from everywhere so that the owner could see them when he arrived. They also chose to camp on a hill because the ground around the house was fairly waterlogged. This later proved to be fortunate as sometimes young kids who would drink and smoke and shout would camp around the house and neither groups disturbed each other.
They kept coming back to this spot for years. The camping trips were all about discipline. A lot of those who came to Hamid's house meetings were coming off drugs or out of prison. It was very hard to be a Muslim these days. Hard to keep out of the wrong company. If the Police saw people waving sticks, Hamid doesn't buy expensive walking sticks, he breaks a stick off where he finds one and if the Police officers saw someone playing with a stick, they could easily have made a misguided assumption.
Next we moved onto 9/11, 7/7 and 21/7.
Hamid didn't believe 9/11 was done by Muslims as Muslims can't kill innocents, or commit suicide. Why would Afghanistan bomb the US inviting a superpowers wrath when they couldn't even afford food? Things were bad after 9/11 but they were much worse after 7/7. He would take his family to Margate where people would shout "Terrorist! Osama!" and suchlike and spat at him. Musa Brown told him the morning of 7/7 that bombs had gone off and advised him not to take his dawah table to Marble Arch. He didn't follow this advice and went down. All afternoon, with public transport halted, people passed him walking home shouting abuse at him. At one point a Policeman regularly on the beat there advised him to pack up and go home. He took this advice. Explaining his text message that evening "We fear no one except Allah. We cannot change etc" he said this was a common Muslims phrase.
Joel asked him his attitude to training. He said it was part of the Koran. He had spoken to a blonde woman in his shop who turned out to be Bosnian. One morning people who she had previously been at peace with came to her house and dragged her husband out. She escaped with her kids to the woods where she met others and took flight. He was aware of what could happen even in developed countries where populations turned on Muslims. He allowed the BBC to film after they had spoken to him on his dawa stall. They turned this into a documentary called "Don't Panic I'm Islamic."
Next we came to the 21/7 guys.
He knew all of them from visits to his house. They would bring each other on his camping trips. Once when he was on holiday two of them took over his dawa stall. When he returned they stayed about until they had a argument with Police. Hamid said he didn't hear any racial abuse or give any. He lost the case the Police brought against him, a case which the others didn't turn up for. He had had an argument with them about the situation. When one of them turned up with his own dawa stall he chased him off his patch. He didn't see them after that. If one of them was in the proximity of his house on 8/7 and another on 15/7 in might have been because they came to a meeting at his where Muslims were all saying
"How could this happen? Muslims wouldn't do this."
When he recognized the 21/7 guys from the TV a few weeks later he thought "I can't believe these guys have done this."
Next we dealt with the subject of Atilla Ahmet. He had met him when he was brought to his house by someone called Moon? Noon? Something like that anyway. He spoke about the trustees at Finsbury Park being a bad bunch, they were in league with Blair etc. Joel asked him if it was wrong to criticise your fellow Muslim brothers and whether Atilla was committing this sin to which Hamid replied in the affirmative. He said that one of the trustees was his personal friend and that he successfully negotiated between the waring factions to get the Mosque open for Ramadan.
(see Inside Finsbury Park Mosque 1 and 2)
He was asked about his relationship with Islington Borough commander Barry Norman. He said Mr Norman liked him because he knew how to speak to him. He said one of the conditions of the peace which was made was that Atilla didn't bring any more unsavoury media attention on the mosque. He said Atilla was a nice guy, but he was influenced by those around him and broke these conditions with an inflammatory interview. Those around Atilla soon accused hamid of being in league with MI-5 etc, so he left the mosque. Atilla later ( I presume when he was chucked out of Finsbury park) appeared at Hamid's house and said "You were right."
Obviously I am paraphrasing. He said all this in his own very endearing Cockney/Gujaratii isms and looked very relaxed throughout.
I spoke to a court representative (Not Hamids) on the way home. He said that it was often the way things went when one of a number pleaded guilty that they got a bit loaded on and that it was unlikely to affect Atilla's sentencing.
More tomorrow if pos. I'd say more tomorrow insh Allah but I am not a Muslim so I won't.
BBC
November 21, 2007
CRACK AND FISH FINGERS
In the afternoon Joel started to outline the case he was going to make and didn't stop for over an hour. He painted Hamid as a slightly crazy guy who didn't think before he spoke. He spent an amount of time trying to put some distance between Atilla and Hamid's personalities. He made Atilla out to be someone who dislikes everyone and to be someone who would plead guilty to charges which dropped his friend in it to "Save his own skin". He also said he was going to use video evidence to contrast Hamids relationship with Islington Borough Commander Barry Norman, with Atilla's relationship with him. He also said he would call people who would say that Atilla was loosing it after his arrest and just before he went guilty.
Later Hamid took the witness box and described his early life. Born in Tanzania he grew up in Yorkshire and came to London at the age of 12-13. He got involved in petty crime and was done for stealing some fishfingers. He carried on this life of petty crime to supplement his lifestyle, buying clothes etc and smoked dope, drank and went to nightclubs whilst training to become a mechanic. He also did a lot of camping and backpacking and went to all the Greek islands, Spain. France, Germany and Belgium though he spent most of the time in Greece. He married his first wife who already had one kid. They had two kids together but the marriage didn't work out and they separated, the kids choosing to stay with him.
At some point he got together with another woman who had a habit, he also developed a crack habit for a year. He sent his kids away and sold everything in his house to buy crack. Eventually he couldn't stand it any longer and went to a mosque, then went to see his older brother who helped him to get to India. he said that as soon as he arrived in India it was like he had never taken drugs and he managed to straighten himself out.
He came back and opened an Islamic bookshop on Chatsworth rd in Hackney and started his dawah stall, first in Leicester square and later on Oxford st. He used to go to Speakers Corner as a kid to listen. After 9/11 he went there to speak, mainly to tell people that Muslims weren't involved in 9/11.
He started meetings at his house because Mosques were there for prayer only and people always left straight after and didn't get a chance to talk. He reckoned 300 people, maybe more passed through meetings at his house and in his Islamic bookshop.There's probably more, as I say I can't write notes upstairs. Anyway that was our lot today, more tomorrow.
Later Hamid took the witness box and described his early life. Born in Tanzania he grew up in Yorkshire and came to London at the age of 12-13. He got involved in petty crime and was done for stealing some fishfingers. He carried on this life of petty crime to supplement his lifestyle, buying clothes etc and smoked dope, drank and went to nightclubs whilst training to become a mechanic. He also did a lot of camping and backpacking and went to all the Greek islands, Spain. France, Germany and Belgium though he spent most of the time in Greece. He married his first wife who already had one kid. They had two kids together but the marriage didn't work out and they separated, the kids choosing to stay with him.
At some point he got together with another woman who had a habit, he also developed a crack habit for a year. He sent his kids away and sold everything in his house to buy crack. Eventually he couldn't stand it any longer and went to a mosque, then went to see his older brother who helped him to get to India. he said that as soon as he arrived in India it was like he had never taken drugs and he managed to straighten himself out.
He came back and opened an Islamic bookshop on Chatsworth rd in Hackney and started his dawah stall, first in Leicester square and later on Oxford st. He used to go to Speakers Corner as a kid to listen. After 9/11 he went there to speak, mainly to tell people that Muslims weren't involved in 9/11.
He started meetings at his house because Mosques were there for prayer only and people always left straight after and didn't get a chance to talk. He reckoned 300 people, maybe more passed through meetings at his house and in his Islamic bookshop.There's probably more, as I say I can't write notes upstairs. Anyway that was our lot today, more tomorrow.
November 20, 2007
THE IMPOSSIBLE
This is us in France. Its all totally improvised stuff musicians can probably tell I'm using a loop player. Geeks might want to know its a Digitech Jamm Man. I'm not sure how much of the trial I can do as we are rehearsing for a gig Saturday. We are the last band on at 3.30. Come if you can.
ANTICHRIST COOKBOOK
OK. Went down the court today, everything was delayed because of a Dartford tunnel collapse. When proceedings finally resumed the judge gave a ruling. I'm not allowed to write notes in the gallery so I'm not sure but I think the ruling sort of went-
Fark orf! You are having a Girrafe! If a person downloads something illegal, even if it can't be proved they read it they can still be charged with possessing it.
Something like that anyway. I only caught a bit of the argument twice before giving up in exasperation.
After ten minutes of this the court was dismissed till two o'clock.
In the afternoon the judge made reference to an "Anti Christ cookbook" (not sure what one of those is) and allowed the jury to be told about the conviction of Hassan (unpronouncable African name) which featured in Dawoods evidence about being asked for money for Jihadi training. He was arrested leaving the UK on a one way to Nairobi.
Anyway go back to sleep. More tomorow I think.
Fark orf! You are having a Girrafe! If a person downloads something illegal, even if it can't be proved they read it they can still be charged with possessing it.
Something like that anyway. I only caught a bit of the argument twice before giving up in exasperation.
After ten minutes of this the court was dismissed till two o'clock.
In the afternoon the judge made reference to an "Anti Christ cookbook" (not sure what one of those is) and allowed the jury to be told about the conviction of Hassan (unpronouncable African name) which featured in Dawoods evidence about being asked for money for Jihadi training. He was arrested leaving the UK on a one way to Nairobi.
Anyway go back to sleep. More tomorow I think.
NOT A HAPPY BUNNY
Here is Musa Ahmet in a very bad mood with the Police who brought the case against him.
March from A to B watch my speech and then GO HOME
Organised Rage
Do read about the shenanigans between this lot elsewhere. There is a random selection of links on Socialistwanker. None of these are "the left" they are a distraction. When I realised how bitterly disappointed I was with "the left" after the school kids revolt I decided to take my politics small scale to see if I could relate directly to US Republicans and Fundamental Islamists on my own hence this blog. I suppose in some way I can at least thank these three wise monkeys for some of the inspiration to stay as far away from them as possible.
Do read about the shenanigans between this lot elsewhere. There is a random selection of links on Socialistwanker. None of these are "the left" they are a distraction. When I realised how bitterly disappointed I was with "the left" after the school kids revolt I decided to take my politics small scale to see if I could relate directly to US Republicans and Fundamental Islamists on my own hence this blog. I suppose in some way I can at least thank these three wise monkeys for some of the inspiration to stay as far away from them as possible.
November 19, 2007
BAKRI DEFENDS HAMZA
...“If he is extradited, it will lead to more terror attacks in the UK as Muslims will feel further victimised.”...
...“If someone has committed acts of violence in the UK they should be stopped and arrested. But Hamza never hurt anyone...
...“The man is disabled. He was not involved in terror training
“Everyone else can go camping, boxing or learn martial arts but, if a Muslim does the same, he is labelled a terrorist.”
He added: “The British should be offering us the hand of friendship.
“The IRA planted far more bombs in the UK than al-Qaida ever have but now they are part of the political process.”
I always got the impression Bakri and Hamza's posse didn't like each other.
...“If someone has committed acts of violence in the UK they should be stopped and arrested. But Hamza never hurt anyone...
...“The man is disabled. He was not involved in terror training
“Everyone else can go camping, boxing or learn martial arts but, if a Muslim does the same, he is labelled a terrorist.”
He added: “The British should be offering us the hand of friendship.
“The IRA planted far more bombs in the UK than al-Qaida ever have but now they are part of the political process.”
I always got the impression Bakri and Hamza's posse didn't like each other.
November 16, 2007
All That Glitters is a Mare's Nest
Off to see the Cardiacs tonight. I don't think I've seen them for more than 10 years.
Later with more beer...
That was fantastic. Really great. I think the support act was an ex-guitar player of the Cardiacs with another band. The Cardiacs were great. They had put in a lot more effort into their stage presence, Tim like a tin-pot dictator flanked by guitarist generale's in sashes and regimented red dressed female backing singers. Songs I hadn't heard live, particularly Sing to God were majestic. Shimmering spectacular wall of sound anthems. To get the Cardiacs you got to see them live. Plenty of people online have made a much better attempt than I can to describe their music so I won't bother. When I saw Killing Joke I noticed how old the audience were and felt my age. A friend saw the Sex Pistols on Wednesday and said the audience were 30s-50s. The Cardiacs have somehow managed to maintain an appeal to a young audience. Maybe half the audience were 25-30? I think they can be justly proud.
November 15, 2007
EXTRADITION
Looks like Hamza is off to the States. For those who don't know I wrote a lot of alternative stuff about Hamza and co here and on Socialistwanker. I never really liked him much, but on the street he did stick to his line about "Not bombing innocents in this country".
For the record I contacted the Hamza family through Mrs Ahmet and through Attila's lawyers with an offer to document their side of the story. This offer was turned down. I will of course be interested to hear the satellite phone calls he made to Yemen. I'd love to have done more stuff around those closest to Hamza in Finsbury park as I've found the whole thing fascinating but there you are.
Telegraph, Independent, Times, Express, Australia, BBC, The Spoof, Muslim news, Irish Independent, Jerusalem Post, India etc etc etc
For the record I contacted the Hamza family through Mrs Ahmet and through Attila's lawyers with an offer to document their side of the story. This offer was turned down. I will of course be interested to hear the satellite phone calls he made to Yemen. I'd love to have done more stuff around those closest to Hamza in Finsbury park as I've found the whole thing fascinating but there you are.
Telegraph, Independent, Times, Express, Australia, BBC, The Spoof, Muslim news, Irish Independent, Jerusalem Post, India etc etc etc
November 14, 2007
WHITE MISCHIEF
I was helping out a very creative friend of mine at her show which was part of the excellent White Mischief on Saturday. I'd never seen a piercing show "in the flesh" as it were. Fascinating. A great night too with some very nice people involved, great punters and really nice bouncers for a change.
November 12, 2007
THE END OF LONDONISTAN
I've still got a few more of these. This is from when Abdullah (Atilla Ahmet) and co were finally chucked out of the mosque. I called the blog I wrote at the time REVENGE OF THE NORMAL PEOPLE
ISLAM BASE
...Videos were available on the site which had been posted by the British group ASWJ, an off-shoot of al-Muhajiroun, an organisation once led by the radical preacher Omar Bakri and now banned in Britain.
The films are part of a growing wealth of extremist material being found on video-sharing sites and the internet which promote a radical agenda to young Muslim men.
IslamBase - which is registered in Glasgow but uses a server in the Netherlands - carries speeches by radical preachers such as Abu Hamza, Omar Bakri and Abu Qatada...
Islambase links to some of my videos. The Jawa Report also features "radicalization" videos by these guys.
The films are part of a growing wealth of extremist material being found on video-sharing sites and the internet which promote a radical agenda to young Muslim men.
IslamBase - which is registered in Glasgow but uses a server in the Netherlands - carries speeches by radical preachers such as Abu Hamza, Omar Bakri and Abu Qatada...
Islambase links to some of my videos. The Jawa Report also features "radicalization" videos by these guys.
November 09, 2007
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