Munir Farooqi, Israr Malik and Matthew Newton exposed by undercover police infiltrating faith stalls in Manchester Three men who recruited vulnerable men to fight British soldiers in Afghanistan to fight a holy war have been jailed after they were convicted of offences following an anti-terror trial. Munir Farooqi, 54, Israr Malik, 23, and Matthew Newton, 29, were exposed after undercover police officers infiltrated faith stalls in Manchester and found they were trying to groom vulnerable men to travel to training camps and battlefields abroad, where they would “fight, kill and die” in a jihad against coalition forces. They were convicted following a trial at Manchester crown court. On Friday, Farooqi was given four life sentences and told he must serve a minimum of nine years before he can be considered for parole. He had been convicted of preparing for acts of terrorism, three counts of soliciting to murder and one count of dissemination of terrorist publications, following a four-month trial. Passing sentence, Mr Justice Richard Henriques said: “You are in my judgment a very dangerous man, an extremist, a fundamentalist with a determination to fight abroad.” Farooqi had used his experiences fighting with the Taliban as a “tool of recruitment” to run the “Manchester recruitment centre” from Islamic bookstalls in the city. His operation was “sophisticated, ruthless and well honed,” the judge said. “You found the images of coffins draped in American flags as a source of great amusement. As residents of this country you owe allegiance to the Crown, that appears to have escaped your attention.” The group used dawah stalls – in Longsight and Manchester city centre to target vulnerable men and after converting them to the faith, radicalised them using terrorist literature, CDs and DVDs. Two undercover officers spent more than a year infiltrating the group and gaining the trust of Farooqi, who had been previously jailed in Afghanistan after fighting alongside the Taliban in 2001. One of the detectives taped him boasting: “If we die, we win. You have Allah on your side, how can we lose? You know jihad is not about you giving your life away. If we’re going to go there you make sure you take at least 40 or 50 people with us so we’ve done something.” The undercover officer said Farooqi told him he had been jailed for fighting in Afghanistan and he had been trailed by MI5 after returning to Britain. Matthew Newton, a white convert who worked as an estate agent, was convicted of engaging in conduct in preparation for acts of terrorism and two counts of dissemination of terrorist publications and sentenced to six years. He told the court he had never heard Farooqi advocate violence. Malik, from Fallowfield, was convicted of engaging in conduct in preparation for acts of terrorism and two counts of soliciting to murder and received an indeterminate sentence. It will be five years before he is eligible for parole. Detective Chief Superintendent Tony Porter, head of the North-West counter terrorism unit, said: “This was an extremely challenging case, both to investigate and successfully prosecute at court, because we did not recover any blueprint, attack plan or endgame for these men. “However, what we were able to prove was their ideology. These men were involved in an organised attempt in Manchester to recruit men to fight, kill and die in either Afghanistan or Pakistan by persuading them it was their religious duty. “That is not an expression of religious freedom, but a concerted effort to prepare people to fight against our own forces abroad. In law, that is terrorism. “Munir Farooqi was the leader. He used his dawah stall to attract vulnerable people like Israr Malik, and then begun to radicalise them, encouraging them to perform violent jihad abroad. He even arranged for these publications to be brought into a prison. Having already fought in Afghanistan in 2001, his war stories were another powerful way of influencing vulnerable young men. For young men who feel angry at the world, these powerful messages can be very persuasive.” He added: “We have worked very closely with a number of mosques, local partners and community leaders to keep them informed since the arrests, as we know this case has provoked strong feelings. I would like to thank those people for their support and understanding throughout what has been a very challenging investigation.” Officers found three books and three DVDs that were considered terrorist publications at Farooqi’s home among more than 50,000 books and leaflets and more than 5,000 recordings. UK security and terrorism Global terrorism Taliban Manchester Afghanistan Helen Carter guardian.co.uk
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Killer who struggled with murderous thoughts was not mentally ill, inquest hears Raoul Moat compared himself to fictional characters such as King Kong and the Incredible Hulk while on the run from armed police and said he hated himself as he struggled with his murderous thoughts, an inquest heard. The feelings could have been triggered by a traumatic childhood in which he was beaten and once saw his mother burn all his toys, the jury heard at Newcastle crown court. He was paranoid, suspicious, mistrustful of authority figures and blamed other people for his misfortune. But the 37-year-old former bouncer was not mentally ill, according to a forensic psychologist brought in to advise expert police negotiators. Moat shot himself after a tense six-hour standoff with armed police, in Rothbury, Northumberland, in July 2010. He had been on the run for a week after shooting his former girlfriend, Samantha Stobbart, killing her new boyfriend, Chris Brown, and blinding PC David Rathband. The inquest heard Moat was tormented by bad dreams and feelings which he detailed on a dictating machine while he was on the run. In the message recovered by police, Moat said: “I feel like King Kong when he’s right at the top of that building, all messed up, when he’s in a real mess. I hate myself. I do hate myself. “It is a part of me. I’m like the Incredible Hulk. It is not anger, it is something completely different.” He likened it to being a wild animal “and it’s been there all my life.” He said: “I’ve had it at the back of my mind and it only ever comes out when I get hurt. It is just bonkers. A psychologist said it has got something to do with my mother and rejection; I don’t know, I don’t understand that kind of thing.” He said the violence he had committed “did not feel real” and likened it to playing the video game Doom . And he said when he shot his victims his jaw had been “champing, like he was on ecstasy”. Forensic psychologist John Hughes said the recordings showed Moat “ruminating and rehearsing” what had happened in his mind, as he tried to make a decision on his next move. Andrew Straw, cross examining for the Moat family, said the former doorman had been plagued throughout his adult life by nightmares in which he was seven-years-old and being chased by monsters. Straw asked Hughes if Moat, who was once prescribed antidepressants for depression, was mentally ill. Hughes said: “He has hit a point where he is turning things over in his mind and trying to make sense. He is using analogies that make sense to him. He feels like there is a huge, terrible, angry person in there. “I did not interpret it to mean in a bigger picture there was any mental illness at that point.” He said there is not the sort of chaotic disorder and failure to plan as there would be if he was mentally ill. He spoke of the need for the expert police negotiators to control the stand-off situation carefully. He said this would give Moat a sense of control that could prevent an “awful outcome” as they were by that stage dealing with “a suicide intervention” situation. The inquest continues. Raoul Moat Crime Mental health Helen Carter guardian.co.uk
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In speech hailing new generation of free schools, prime minister pledges to raise standards and raises prospect of eliminating illiteracy Opponents of free schools are defending an educational establishment that has let down pupils and accepts failure as a fact of life, David Cameron has said. In a speech hailing the new generation of free schools opened this week, the prime minister pledged to raise standards and raised the prospect of eliminating illiteracy. “When China is going through an educational renaissance, when India is churning out science graduates, any complacency now would be fatal for our prosperity,” he said at the Free School Norwich. “And we’ve got to be ambitious, too, if we want to mend our broken society, because education doesn’t just give people the tools to make a good living – it gives them the character to live a good life, to be good citizens.” The prime minister reiterated his warning, delivered last weekend, that benefits could be cut from the parents of children who played truant. “We need parents to have a real stake in the discipline of their children, to face real consequences if their children continually misbehave,” he said. “That’s why I have asked our social policy review to look into whether we should cut the benefits of those parents whose children constantly play truant. Yes, this would be a tough measure – but we urgently need to restore order and respect in the classroom, and I don’t want ideas like this to be off the table.” Cameron was speaking at the end of a week in which 24 free schools, created under legislation enacted in the coalition’s first few months, opened. The schools, free from local authority control, have greater freedoms than the academies established by Tony Blair. The prime minister was scathing about critics of free schools who say they will divert resources from existing schools. “Those opposing free schools are simply defending the establishment – an establishment that has failed pupils and infuriated parents for too long,” he said. “Those who support free schools are on the side of parents, charities and committed teachers who are trying to make things better on the side of the choice, freedom and competition that will really drive up standards.” Cameron was highly critical of an education establishment that he said had tolerated failure. “For a long time in this country, there has been a scandalous acceptance of under-performing schools,” he added. “It’s the attitude that says some schools – especially in the poorest areas – will always be bad. “That meekly accepts educational failure as a fact of life. Well, I’m sorry – that’s patronising nonsense.” The prime minister said the government would drive up standards by: • Ending “wrong-headed methods” that have failed pupils and making sure every teacher has the resources to deliver synthetic phonics teaching. “That’s the method that’s proven to work – and that’s how we can eliminate illiteracy in our country,” he said. • Raising the bar on GCSE results. By the end of the current parliament, a school where less than 50% of pupils are achieving five good GCSEs will be deemed to be underperforming. The last government set this at 30%. • A greater focus on rigorous subjects tested in a rigorous way. “Our curriculum review will mean we are really demanding in what we expect our children to learn,” he said. • A focus on tackling “coasting schools”. The prime minister said two schools in deprived parts of London – Burlington Danes Academy in Hammersmith, and Walworth Academy in Southwark – had achieved impressive results at GCSE. But in Oxfordshire and Surrey, relatively affluent counties represented by the prime minister and the education secretary, Michael Gove, only 16 state secondary schools did better than the two London schools. “”Why is there this difference?” Cameron said. “Why are these schools coasting along?” The prime minister said that, by the end of next year, the government would have transformed about 150 failing secondary schools and 200 failing primaries into academies. “Britain is a modern, developed country. If they’re seeing excellence as standard in cities like Shanghai, why can’t we see that in cities like London? “We’ve got the resources, we’ve got the fantastic teachers, we know what works. Now we just have to have the will – the energy – to make this happen and, believe me, we have it.” Christine Blower, the general secretary of the National Union of Teachers, the largest teachers’ union, said: “The prime minister’s vision of an education system which delivers the best for everyone is one with which we agree. “The union simply does not accept that the fragmentation of our education system is the right answer. The free schools and academy programme are a divisive and unnecessary experiment with this. “To ensure that every young person has the very best chance to both reach their full academic potential and to be a ‘good citizen’, we need well-ordered schools within a coherent education service supported by youth provision, and a range of local support services. This government’s programme of cuts is hitting all this provision.” Free schools Schools David Cameron Education policy Liberal-Conservative coalition Nicholas Watt guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Power company officials believe a worker moving a piece of monitoring equipment in an Arizona utility substation likely turned off the lights yesterday for a massive 6 million customers stretching through southern California and Mexico. “This was not a deliberate act. The employee was just switching out a piece of…
Continue reading …Shakespeare in the West Bank: British troupe savour ‘Elizabethan’ crowd
September 9, 2011 No Comment
Raucous audience at Bethlehem refugee camp see closing performance of The Tempest by Jericho House theatre It was, said the director, an Elizabethan atmosphere. People came and went throughout the play. There was chatter and laughter and crying babies. One boy kicked a football, another swung from an overhead metal bar near the stage. Yet this was not the Globe theatre on the south bank of the Thames, but an open-air performance in the shadow of Israel’s concrete wall separating Bethlehem from Jerusalem. One of the defining symbols of the occupation, here the wall towers over a Palestinian refugee camp, making it perhaps an appropriate setting for a Shakespeare play with themes of exile, injustice, resistance and – ultimately – freedom and forgiveness. Overlooked by Israeli military watchtowers, and against a backdrop of graffiti (“One day the sun will rise on a free Palestine”), the British troupe struggled at times to hold the attention of the mainly young audience, nearly all of whom were seeing a Shakespeare play for the first time. Ruth Lass, whose captivating performance of Ariel was received enthusiastically, was unfazed. “You play with what’s there. In Shakespeare’s times it would have been like this. You have to work hard to hold the audience. That’s the nature of theatre,” she said. The innovative theatre company Jericho House spent a year preparing for its mini-tour, which ends on Saturday, to East Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Nablus and the mixed Israeli-Arab city of Haifa. It returns for a run at a London church on 21 September. Director Jonathan Holmes said he chose The Tempest because of the echoes its themes have in the occupied West Bank. The play “becomes a contest for territory between people of different cultures, and people of the same culture. Shakespeare uses this dynamic to explore different systems and ideas of political resistance.” The parallels were not exact, he said. “This is at one level a very English play. We’re not trying to make it overtly about the situation here. We’re offering a neutral production and we’ll see if the resonances are heard.” The first tour of a European Shakespeare production in the West Bank – at least since the British Mandate era – was mainly funded by the British Council and the Qattan Foundation. Jericho House would have liked to take the production to Gaza, but the logistical and security challenges were too great. “Cultural openness is very important in parts of the world that don’t get to travel or have exposure to other cultures,” said Holmes. No special co-ordination was made with the Israeli authorities, and three of the cast “with Middle Eastern-sounding names” were detained and questioned for several hours at Israel’s Ben-Gurion airport, according to Holmes. They performed without a set, in modern dress, using few props, and without rehearsing in the selected spaces – a “high-risk” approach, according to Holmes. Finding the right venues had been tricky, he said. “The space itself has an enormous effect on the show. It’s essential to find a space that will speak as strongly as the text or performance.” The pioneering Freedom Theatre in the northern West Bank city of Jenin was on the original itinerary. But the performance was cancelled after the theatre’s director and founder, Juliano Mer-Khamis, was shot dead by masked gunmen in April . “Juliano was our principal contact,” said Holmes. “He was the one who really understood how the project would work, and he wanted it to come to the Freedom Theatre.” At the end of the performance at Aida refugee camp in Bethlehem, Nancy Ijara, 18, who studied Shakespeare at school, said she particularly enjoyed the scenes of Miranda and Ferdinand’s marriage and Prospero’s forgiveness. Walid Abusrour, 49, who now lives in the US but was visiting family in Bethlehem, said: “Occupation and The Tempest are the same thing. It’s about freedom. What we’re also looking for is freedom, and to get back what we lost.” Abdelfattah Abusrour, manager of the Alrowwad cultural centre, which hosted the performance, was delighted. “For children, it was very hard to focus; it’s a lot of words in a foreign language [a summary in Arabic was given before each act]. It was challenging but the idea was to present it in a context that is powerful.” The theme of banishment, he said, “connects to our case as refugees in our own country. And we also always hope for a happy ending.” Palestinian territories William Shakespeare Israel Middle East Theatre Harriet Sherwood guardian.co.uk
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Former NI boss stands by evidence that he believed News of the World royal editor was ‘only person’ involved in phone hacking Les Hinton, the former boss of News International, has dismissed an allegation by the former News of the World royal editor Clive Goodman that the reporter was offered his job back after being imprisoned for phone hacking as long as he did not implicate the paper at his trial. In a letter to MPs published on Friday, Hinton said he has no reason to believe that Goodman’s claim was “accurate” or that there was any evidence to support his allegation. Hinton added that he stands by evidence that he gave to a parliamentary committee in 2007 and 2009 in which he said he believed Goodman was “the only person” involved in phone hacking. Hinton, a lifelong employee of News Corp who ended up as Rupert Murdoch’s chief lieutenant until he resigned in July , made his comments in a letter to the Commons culture, sport and media select committee. It is the first time he has said anything about the phone-hacking allegations since his previous appearances in front of the select committee in 2007 and 2009. “I answered all questions truthfully and to the best of my knowledge,” said Hinton. It is his remarks about Goodman’s claims that are most significant and indicate the legal line News International is likely to take in relation to the former royal editor’s sensational claims. Goodman’s letter was written four years ago and was particularly explosive because it claimed that phone hacking was “widely discussed” at editorial meetings chaired by the then editor Andy Coulson. He also claimed that Coulson offered to let him keep his job if he agreed not to implicate the paper in hacking when he came to court; and that his own hacking was carried out with “the full knowledge and support” of other senior journalists, whom he named. Hinton said: “As for Mr Goodman’s assertion that he had been promised he could come back to a job at the newspaper ‘if [he] did not implicate the paper or any of its staff in [his] mitigation plea’. I had no reason to believe that his allegation was accurate, and am not aware of any evidence to support it. Accordingly, I testified before the committee in 2009, no evidence was provided to me that the conduct of Mr Goodman had spread beyond him.” Earlier this week Crone said at a select committee hearing that Coulson was eager to re-hire Goodman even if he was convicted and jailed for phone-hacking offences. However, he was not questioned about the claim that it was only if he promised not to implicate the paper at his trial. •
Continue reading …The FBI, CIA and police are attempting to track down a trio of men they believe arrived in the US last month to launch a terror attack on the anniversary of 9/11. The men, who officials believe were sent by al-Qaeda boss Ayman al-Zawahiri, are suspected of plotting a car…
Continue reading …Women aged between 18 and 28 held in investigation of two privately-run nurseries Six women have been arrested as part of an investigation into two privately-run nurseries in York. North Yorkshire police said the arrested women, aged between 18 and 28, have been questioned and released on conditional bail. The police, council and Ofsted began a joint inquiry last month into the nurseries, Little Joes in Fishergate and Heworth House in Melrosegate. At the time they said there was no suggestion of sexual abuse. Both nurseries have remained open as the inquiry continues. A joint statement from the City of York council’s Safeguarding Children Board, North Yorkshire police and Ofsted said: “The arrest of individuals by the police is standard practice where they have reasonable suspicion that someone may have committed an offence and this action should not be taken as an indication that offences of a more serious nature have emerged.” The statement also said parents were being kept fully informed of the progress of the investigation. It continued: “We appreciate that this will continue to raise anxieties for parents of children in the nurseries, but we would like to stress that the welfare and safety of children is the primary concern.” Parents with any concerns can contact an advice line set up by City of York council’s Family Information Service. In August, York council said “the quality of care and welfare” of children at Little Joes in Fishergate and Heworth House in Melrosegate was being investigated. The nurseries’ owner, Lynn Drydal, said she was “completely shocked”. At the time, she said she had not been told what the allegations were and that it had had a “horrendous” effect on her business. She added: “I would like this investigation to be moved on so I can try and build back up the business which I have had ruined.” Little Joes takes children from birth to eight years old and has separate pre-school, toddler and baby units. It was last inspected by Ofsted in September 2008, when it was rated “good” overall. The nursery has a capacity for 51 children and employed nine staff at the time of the last inspection. Heworth House was inspected by Ofsted in May this year, when it was rated “satisfactory”. It is registered to take children from birth to five years and has capacity for 30 children. It employs nine members of staff. Crime Helen Carter guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Women aged between 18 and 28 held in investigation of two privately-run nurseries Six women have been arrested as part of an investigation into two privately-run nurseries in York. North Yorkshire police said the arrested women, aged between 18 and 28, have been questioned and released on conditional bail. The police, council and Ofsted began a joint inquiry last month into the nurseries, Little Joes in Fishergate and Heworth House in Melrosegate. At the time they said there was no suggestion of sexual abuse. Both nurseries have remained open as the inquiry continues. A joint statement from the City of York council’s Safeguarding Children Board, North Yorkshire police and Ofsted said: “The arrest of individuals by the police is standard practice where they have reasonable suspicion that someone may have committed an offence and this action should not be taken as an indication that offences of a more serious nature have emerged.” The statement also said parents were being kept fully informed of the progress of the investigation. It continued: “We appreciate that this will continue to raise anxieties for parents of children in the nurseries, but we would like to stress that the welfare and safety of children is the primary concern.” Parents with any concerns can contact an advice line set up by City of York council’s Family Information Service. In August, York council said “the quality of care and welfare” of children at Little Joes in Fishergate and Heworth House in Melrosegate was being investigated. The nurseries’ owner, Lynn Drydal, said she was “completely shocked”. At the time, she said she had not been told what the allegations were and that it had had a “horrendous” effect on her business. She added: “I would like this investigation to be moved on so I can try and build back up the business which I have had ruined.” Little Joes takes children from birth to eight years old and has separate pre-school, toddler and baby units. It was last inspected by Ofsted in September 2008, when it was rated “good” overall. The nursery has a capacity for 51 children and employed nine staff at the time of the last inspection. Heworth House was inspected by Ofsted in May this year, when it was rated “satisfactory”. It is registered to take children from birth to five years and has capacity for 30 children. It employs nine members of staff. Crime Helen Carter guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Women aged between 18 and 28 held in investigation of two privately-run nurseries Six women have been arrested as part of an investigation into two privately-run nurseries in York. North Yorkshire police said the arrested women, aged between 18 and 28, have been questioned and released on conditional bail. The police, council and Ofsted began a joint inquiry last month into the nurseries, Little Joes in Fishergate and Heworth House in Melrosegate. At the time they said there was no suggestion of sexual abuse. Both nurseries have remained open as the inquiry continues. A joint statement from the City of York council’s Safeguarding Children Board, North Yorkshire police and Ofsted said: “The arrest of individuals by the police is standard practice where they have reasonable suspicion that someone may have committed an offence and this action should not be taken as an indication that offences of a more serious nature have emerged.” The statement also said parents were being kept fully informed of the progress of the investigation. It continued: “We appreciate that this will continue to raise anxieties for parents of children in the nurseries, but we would like to stress that the welfare and safety of children is the primary concern.” Parents with any concerns can contact an advice line set up by City of York council’s Family Information Service. In August, York council said “the quality of care and welfare” of children at Little Joes in Fishergate and Heworth House in Melrosegate was being investigated. The nurseries’ owner, Lynn Drydal, said she was “completely shocked”. At the time, she said she had not been told what the allegations were and that it had had a “horrendous” effect on her business. She added: “I would like this investigation to be moved on so I can try and build back up the business which I have had ruined.” Little Joes takes children from birth to eight years old and has separate pre-school, toddler and baby units. It was last inspected by Ofsted in September 2008, when it was rated “good” overall. The nursery has a capacity for 51 children and employed nine staff at the time of the last inspection. Heworth House was inspected by Ofsted in May this year, when it was rated “satisfactory”. It is registered to take children from birth to five years and has capacity for 30 children. It employs nine members of staff. Crime Helen Carter guardian.co.uk
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