UK Counter-Terrorism (merged thread)

[davidbfpo]

For many years the Jihadist bookshop 'Maktabah al-Ansar' in Sparkhill, in East Birmingham had a certain notoriety, with repeated police search warrants and finally in February 2007 property was seized that enabled a prosecution in October 2011. The bookshop being described by the prosecutor as:

This case is about the distribution of books and DVDs and other material which we say represent steps along the road to radicalisation of Muslims to engage in violent terrorist attacks around the world, including the UK....This case is also about the ways and means by which to solidify that radicalisation and provide practical assistance for those who have been radicalised. To encapsulate it in a single phrase, this case is about priming people for terrorism...now serving long prison sentences, having been found guilty of plotting to terrorise the British public

Link:http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/oc...ople-terrorism

At the trial several expert witnesses appeared for the prosecution and yesterday one of them authored a very significant article IMHO. This is the headline and sub-title:

This bookseller deserved his incitement to terrorism conviction (followed by) I was a witness in Ahmed Faraz's trial – this is the first time anyone involved has spoken about what really happened

Adding:

Much of the media discussion of the trial treated the texts as if they were translations of originals. In fact, all of the original texts had been doctored or adulterated in extremist ways....Throughout, the authority of the Qur'an and the Hadith (sayings of the Prophet) was invoked in false, de-contextualised ways to justify acts of violence against innocent people. The texts and videos divided the world strictly into the realm of "pure" Islam – godliness, virtue and knowledge – and the world of "pure" disbelief (kufr) – vice, godlessness and ignorance (jahiliyyah).

Link:http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisf...ism-conviction

The bookseller's conviction:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-16149299

A contrary viewpoint on the conviction is here:http://www.opendemocracy.net/ourking...ady-chatterley