Vol. 71/No. 8      February 26, 2007

London and the big-business media are now using the case to further undermine free speech and other democratic rights and win support for the rulers’ “war on terrorism,” even though the Foreign Office recently told cabinet ministers and British diplomats to stop using the term as too inflammatory.

Armed cops stood guard outside the court where those arrested appeared February 9. The men were then driven to Belmarsh high-security prison. The charges against five of them stem from an alleged plot to kill a soldier and post film footage of the execution on the Internet.

The January 31 raids were carried out by the recently established Midlands Counter Terrorism Unit, the Metropolitan Police, West Midlands Police, and MI5—the government’s secret police. Cops raided 12 premises and cordoned off streets. They appealed for aid from local Muslims and published leaflets about the raids in several languages. Most of the area’s residents of Asian descent come from a Pakistani-Kashmiri background. The local mosque’s president, Ayub Pervaz, offered use of their building to the cops for carrying out operations in the area.

Home Secretary John Reid said the raids were a “major operation.” They were preceded by six months of surveillance by what the BBC described as “MI5 and other agencies … [using] the full range of police and surveillance techniques.” Cops have seized more than 4,500 items.

During the raids police smashed through the door of The Maktabah, an Islamic bookshop in Birmingham, stripping the shelves and taking computers, books, and leaflets. The shop had been raided previously in 2000 and 2003. It was co-founded by Moazzem Begg, one of the Britons released from the U.S. concentration camp at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, after being held there for three years without a trial. The cops also sealed off the Dar Makkah International bookshop, near Birmingham’s Central Mosque.

The charges the police laid against the five men include “intention” to kidnap and “intention” to supply money or property to support “terrorism.” The Terrorism 2006 Act included a new provision that allows the prosecution of anyone preparing or training for a “terrorist act,” or for making a statement authorities can deem as “glorification of terrorism.”

In a further move by the rulers’ in using these anti-working-class measures, Abu Izzadeen was arrested February 9 on suspicion of “glorifying terrorism.” According to The Times, he was allegedly filmed describing non-Muslims as “animals” and “cowards.” Izzadeen had previously risen to prominence when he heckled Home Secretary Reid at a meeting of Muslims in east London last year. He was released on strict bail conditions: surrendering his passport, living and sleeping at home, reporting daily to the police, and paying a £50,000 bond (£1 = US$1.95). Izzadeen is a former leader of the groups al-Ghurabaa and Saved Sect, which were banned by the government.

Abu Bakr, one of those arrested in the Birmingham raids and later released without charge, told the BBC Newsnight program that Britain is “a police state for Muslims.” Prime Minister Anthony Blair spoke out against Bakr’s remark, as did opposition leader David Cameron of the Tories. Labour Member of Parliament Shahid Malik, who is Muslim, said Bakr’s arrest and release “doesn’t lead to the conclusion that we’re in a police state.”

In response to the Birmingham raids, the U.S. Investor’s Business Daily ran an article February 5 describing the alleged plot to kill the British soldier as “ghastly.” It argued that there is a “worldwide clash of civilizations.” In an anti-Muslim diatribe, it said, “The terrorists are getting all their violent ideas … even the beheadings—right out of their holy book… . They are disciplined soldiers in a holy war.” The conservative daily argued that “it’s time to take off the gloves. We must declare war on jihad—and all its participants and supporters.”

On February 9 the British government also closed down Jameah Islameah, an Islamic school in east Sussex. The school had been raided by “antiterrorist” police last September. Education Minister James Knight boasted, “In the past three years more than 45 independent schools have shut down as a consequence of this government’s tough approach.”
 
 
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Petraeus takes command of U.S. troops Iraqi gov’t closes borders with Iran, Syria
Washington claims Iranian-made explosives are used in Iraq
Boston event features Iran’s UN ambassador
‘Let the people vote on war’
How workers movement has fought against imperialist war
Washington to establish new Africa Command  
 
 
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