Police officers in Babar Ahmad case accused of 60 other assaults

Posted on March 21, 2009 by Bob Pitt

Free+Babar+protest Police officers involved in a “serious, gratuitous and prolonged” attack on a British Muslim man that led the Metropolitan police to pay £60,000 in damages this week have been accused of dozens of previous assaults against black or Asian men.

Babar Ahmad, 34, a terrorist suspect, was punched, kicked, stamped on and strangled during his arrest by officers from one of the Met’s territorial support groups at his London home in December 2003.

After six years of denials from Scotland Yard, lawyers acting for the Metropolitan police commissioner, Sir Paul Stephenson, were forced to admit in the high court that Ahmad had been the victim of sustained and gratuitous violence during his arrest and agreed to pay £60,000 in damages.

But the Guardian can reveal that the Met was aware for years that the six officers involved were the subject of repeated complaints. According to documents submitted to the court, four of the officers who carried out the raid on Ahmad’s home had 60 allegations of assault against them – of which at least 37 were made by black or Asian men. One of the officers had 26 separate allegations of assault against him – 17 against black or Asian men.

The Met has confirmed that since 1992 all six officers involved in the Ahmad assault had been subject to at least 77 complaints. When lawyers for Ahmad asked for details of these allegations it emerged that the police had “lost” several large mail sacks detailing at least 30 of the complaints.

Guardian, 21 March 2009

Babar Ahmad wins £60,000 damages from Met

Posted on March 18, 2009 by Bob Pitt

Babar Ahmad's father The Metropolitan police today agreed to pay £60,000 damages to a British Muslim after a high court admission that officers had subjected him to “serious, gratuitous and prolonged” attack.

The court was told that Babar Ahmad, who is accused of raising funds for terrorism, had been punched, kicked and throttled during his arrest by officers from the force’s territorial support group in December 2003.

The Met had repeatedly denied the claims, saying officers had used reasonable force during the arrest. However, lawyers for the force’s commissioner, Sir Paul Stephenson, today admitted at the high court that Ahmad had been the victim of gratuitous and sustained violence at his home in Tooting, south-west London.

“The commissioner has today admitted that his officers subjected Babar Ahmad to grave abuse tantamount to torture during his arrest,” Ahmad’s solicitor, Fiona Murphy, said outside the court.

Outside the court, Ahmad’s brother-in-law, Fahad Ahmad, read out a statement on his behalf in which he said he was pleased the police had finally admitted what had happened.

“This abuse took place not in Guantánamo Bay or a secret torture chamber but in Tooting, south London,” the statement said. “The path to justice is long and difficult but, as long as you remain steadfast upon it, you will get there in the end.”

Ahmad has been in detention since he was rearrested in 2004 after a request from the US government over claims he helped raise money to fund terrorist campaigns. The court heard that no evidence had been produced against Ahmad, and he had never been charged with any offence.

He is now fighting extradition to the US in the European courts.

Guardian, 18 March 2009

Metropolitan police pays Babar Ahmad £60,000 damages over ‘serious attack’

Posted on March 18, 2009 by Bob Pitt

Babar-Ahmad The Metropolitan police today agreed to pay £60,000 damages to a British Muslim after a high court admission that officers had subjected him to “serious, gratuitous and prolonged” attack.

“The commissioner has today admitted that his officers subjected Babar Ahmad to grave abuse tantamount to torture during his arrest,” Ahmad’s solicitor, Fiona Murphy, said outside the court.

Guardian, 18 March 2009

See also, Victoria Brittain, “Stunning victory for Babar Ahmad”, Guardian, 18 March 2009

‘Vote NO Muslims’ slogan in LA County election

Posted on March 5, 2009 by Bob Pitt

Southeast Los Angeles County, which has struggled for years with public corruption investigations and bruising politics, is emerging from Tuesday’s municipal elections with a pair of black eyes. In the mostly Latino cities of Bell and Cudahy, candidates have been smeared as terrorists, had their cars vandalized and had bricks thrown through windows, and a former mayor was accused of raping a young girl in Tijuana.

Over the weekend, Bell City Council candidate Ali Saleh was alerted about fliers someone found at a local grocery store. Someone superimposed Saleh’s face on a picture of a man holding a sign that read, “Islam will dominate the world.” The flier also showed pictures of radical Iraqi cleric Muqtada Sadr, the burning towers of the World Trade Center and terrorists wearing black hoods and standing over a kneeling hostage, presumably about to be executed. At the bottom of the flier was a message to voters: “Vote NO Muslims for the City Bell Council 2009.”

The 33-year-old Saleh, who grew up in Bell, said he never expected his candidacy to lead to an attack on the city’s Lebanese American and Muslim community, which numbers about 2,000. Saleh was one of two Lebanese Americans running for council, along with Hussein Chahine. They lost. “Politics can get dirty. But usually they just say something about you,” Saleh said. “But when you come and tell people not to vote for any Muslims, you’re talking about an entire group. I was born in this country. I want to be part of this American democratic system. This is very upsetting.”

Los Angeles Times, 4 March 2009

When terrorism isn’t newsworthy

Posted on February 23, 2009 by Bob Pitt

At the Scottish Islamic Foundation website Osama Saeed lambasts the media’s almost total failure to report the conviction of Neil MacGregor, the self-proclaimed “proud racist and National Front member” who threatened to blow up Glasgow Central Mosque and behead one Muslim a week until every mosque in Scotland was shut down:

“Imagine if a Scottish Muslim had pled guilty to threatening to blow up Glasgow Cathedral and behead one Christian a week until all British troops were pulled out of Iraq and Afghanistan.

“There would be outrage, right? It would be splashed over the front page of every newspaper in the land. It would be the top of all news bulletins. There would be volumes written on what motivated him, his family background and his beliefs. There would be a rich stream of analysis from a variety of positions. Government would be asked what it was doing to avoid such a thing from happening.

“So when news came into the Scottish-Islamic Foundation office this week of one Neil MacGregor pleading guilty to threatening to blow up Glasgow Central Mosque and behead one Muslim a week until all Scottish mosques were shut down, we thought it couldn’t possibly be true. There had been no build up to such a trial, no coverage during it and none on the verdict. We Googled it, and nothing came up. Not a sausage, nada, zilch.

“Immediately, we fired out a press release. If this hadn’t been brought to the attention of our media, surely they’d cover it once they heard of it? Seems not. Well, apart from Scotland Today (brief mention 10 minutes in).

“So I phoned up the newsdesks of some of our major newspapers and asked how this could have happened. Some said they’d get back to me, but haven’t. Others put their hands up and said it was a big mistake. Helpfully, it was pointed out that some news outlets rely entirely on output from the Glasgow Courts Press Agency, and it seems that they might not have put anything out on this. It’s something we’ll be following up. At the Atif Siddique trial in 2007, there were even unidentified figures there on hand to brief the press on a plot to behead the Canadian prime minister which wasn’t even brought up during the trial, but led the news the next day as a result.

“There is a chance for redemption. MacGregor will be sentenced on March 6. This should provide a sufficient hook for media outlets to give coverage.”

But these double standards are par for the course, quite frankly. The media initially ignored the Robert Cottage case. And coverage of the Brian Donegan trial was non-existent. Violent extremism is deemed worthy of serious attention only when the violent extremists aren’t white.

Guilty plea on bomb threat to Glasgow Central Mosque

Posted on February 19, 2009 by Bob Pitt

Glasgow_Central_Mosque A man has admitted to threatening to blow up Glasgow Central Mosque, and behead one Muslim a week until every mosque in Scotland was shut down.

The proceedings at Glasgow Sheriff Court regarding Neil MacGregor, who sent the threats to Strathclyde Police as a National Front member, are reported in the latest edition of the Digger and have caused extreme alarm in the Muslim community.

Osama Saeed of the Scottish-Islamic Foundation said:

“I hope that he is dealt with in exactly the same manner as an extremist who was Muslim would be.

“This latest episode underscores the need for effective action tackling Islamophobia. The far right use fear of Muslims as a cloak for their old overt racism. They should realise they follow the same ideology as Al-Qaeda when they target an entire community for violence.”

Bashir Maan, President of Glasgow Central Mosque said:

“I’m surprised there hasn’t been more coverage of this. I could imagine the controversy and analysis there would have been if he had been a Muslim doing this to non-Muslims.”

Last year in Glasgow, Mary McKay was sentenced to six years for stabbing a Muslim man in the chest. She said: “I hope the guy is dead. I just stabbed a guy with the same colour of skin as a terrorist. I just saw the two Pakis and he had an NY on his top.”

Mosques across Scotland have been subject of attacks. As well as in Glasgow, this includes Edinburgh, Falkirk, Bathgate and Stirling.

The last Scottish Government Social Attitudes Survey found that half of Scots saw Muslims as a “cultural threat” to the country.

In the recent past, far right extremists have been found guilty of possessing explosives and planning to use them, for example Robert Cottage and Martyn Gilleard.

Scottish Islamic Foundation press release, 18 February 2009

Seattle report: men hit, told to ‘speak English’

Posted on January 14, 2009 by Bob Pitt

Seattle police say they’re looking for a pickup truck driver who became so angry when he heard a man speaking a language other than English that he attacked the man and a friend.

Police described the victims in the Monday afternoon attack as African men. One stepped outside a store on Rainier Avenue South to talk on his cell phone. The man heard a pickup truck driver stopped in traffic yell at him to “speak English.”

According to the police report, the driver grew angrier when the man with the phone tried to say he didn’t speak English very well. Police say the driver got out of his truck, called the victim a Muslim, using a slur, and told him to “go back home.”

Police say the driver grabbed the victim and punched him twice. When the victim’s friend came out of the store, he was punched in the eye.

Associated Press, 14 January 2009

Arson attack damages Lyon mosque

Posted on December 22, 2008 by Bob Pitt

Saint Priest mosque arson A mosque near the southeast city of Lyon was slightly damaged by fire early Saturday in an attack that the French interior ministry in Paris said was arson.

The fire broke out at the entrance to the mosque in the suburb of Saint Priest but did not spread and the only damage to the interior was caused by smoke, police said. However, an AFP photographer saw a number of burned books from a bookcase which had been standing next to the door.

Interior Minister Michele Alliot-Marie had written to the president of the French council of Muslims, Mohammed Moussaoui, to convey her concern at the arson attack on the mosque, the ministry in Paris said.

The ministry added that police forensics experts were working to “find who was responsible for this intolerable and cowardly attack as soon as possible.”

The mosque rector, Kamal Kabtane, condemned “the rise in racism and Islamophobia” and called for a demonstration on Sunday outside the mosque when he visited the scene with the local mayor.

He referred to recent anti-Islamic incidents in France, including an attack on another mosque in the Lyon area in August and the desecration of 500 Muslim soldiers’ tombs in a war cemetery in the north of the country earlier this month.

Police said they had found a number of clues which were expected to aid them in their inquiries.

AFP, 22 December 2008

See also “Lyons: Arson at mosque”, Islam in Europe, 21 December 2008

And “Sarkozy condemns racist arson attack on mosque”, Expatica, 22 December 2008

Saint-Priest demonstration

Young thugs attack Southend mosque

Posted on December 17, 2008 by Bob Pitt

Essex Jamme Masjid vandalism A Muslim leader fears for the safety of his family, after attacks on a mosque and his flat next door.

The gang of teenagers have repeatedly targeted the Essex Jamme Masjid mosque, in Chelmsford Avenue, Southend, which was converted from a church earlier this year.

Imam Mahmudul Hasan said he had been left shocked and scared after teenagers also smashed the front door windows at his home.

Essex Echo, 17 December 2008

Attacker tried to strangle Muslim woman with her own hijab

Posted on December 13, 2008 by Bob Pitt

A Muslim woman was left degraded and ashamed after her hijab was ripped from her head and used to strangle her. Barka Ali-Abdulla told a court she was left afraid for her life and unable to go out after she was attacked by Tanya Squires. Ms Abdulla, a Somali refugee, said she was left so devastated she is thinking of leaving Britain after living here for more than 20 years.

Squires, 21, who is three months pregnant, hurled a stone at her head in an unprovoked attack near Churchill Square, Brighton, in August. When Ms Abdulla, the mother of a young daughter, turned round Squires spat in her face and launched a vicious assault on her, Brighton Magistrates Court was told yesterday. Amanda Burrows, prosecuting, said: “Squires punched her hard in the eye and then pulled off her hijab, a traditional headscarf, which she used to try to strangle Ms Abdulla.”

Squires was given a five month prison sentence suspended for a year and was ordered to pay £200 compensation to her victim. She was also ordered to wear an electronic tag and not go out between 8pm and 6am until February 5.

The Argus, 13 December 2008

Islamophobia Watch

Documenting anti-Muslim bigotry

Category Archives: Anti-Muslim violence