British Muslim charged with kidnap plot
By Jonathan Guthrie in Birmingham
British legal authorities on Friday charged Parviz Khan, a Muslim man arrested in Birmingham last week, with planning to kidnap and kill a British soldier.
According to unsubstantiated rumours a Muslim member of the armed forces would have been targeted and footage of his decapitation posted on the internet in an imitation of executions by insurgents in Iraq. Four other Muslim men detained in a series of raids in the Midlands city were charged with planning to supply equipment for use in terrorism.
The charges show that the Crown Prosecution Service believes there is sufficient evidence for the men to face trial. It is therefore an important vindication of the police in the face of critics in the Muslim community and the Church of England, who have claimed the UK is turning into a “police state” that sanctions harassment of Muslims.
Speculation had mounted after the release of two of the seven men arrested last week that all might be set free without charge. Last year London’s Metropolitan police was severely embarrassed when it released without charge two Muslims arrested in a high-profile raid in Forest Gate. The men complained bitterly at their treatment, as freed Birmingham suspect Abu Bakr has this week.
The four men charged alongside Mr Khan are Mohammed Irfan, 30, Zahoor Iqbal, 29, Hamid Elasmar, 43 and Amjad Mahmood, 31. They are accused of supplying equipment for use in terrorism.
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Friday, February 09, 2007
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