Roj Bash Kurdistan

BBC News

The killing of soldier Lee Rigby in Woolwich, south-east London, was a "cowardly and callous murder", the Old Bailey has heard. It was told that Michael Adebolajo, 28, and Michael Adebowale, 22, drove at Fusilier Rigby before attempting to decapitate him on the street close to his barracks on 22 May.



Both are also accused of attempting to murder a police officer and conspiracy to murder a police officer.

They both deny all charges.

The two defendants are in a glass-lined dock in the Old Bailey courtroom with paper on one side.

Fusilier Rigby was 25 when he was killed

Members of Fusilier Rigby's family are in attendance.



Prosecutor Richard Whittam QC told jurors that the two suspects drove a Vauxhall Tigra "straight at" Fusilier Rigby at around 30-40mph.

He said: "Both men then dragged his body into the middle of the road. They wanted members of the public to see the consequence of what can only be described as their barbarous acts.

"They had committed, you may think, a cowardly and callous murder by deliberately attacking an unarmed man in plain clothes from behind, using a vehicle as a weapon, and then they murdered him and mutilated his body with that meat cleaver and knives."

Mr Adebolajo tried to decapitate the soldier with a meat cleaver with "multiple blows to his neck", while Mr Adebowale stabbed and cut him, the jury heard.



Tight security surrounded the defendants' arrival at the Old Bailey

Mr Whittam said it appeared that Mr Adebolajo "made a serious and almost successful attempt to decapitate" Fusilier Rigby.

At the same time, he said, Mr Adebowale "was using a knife to stab and cut at the soldier's body".

Mr Adebolajo, from Romford, east London, has asked to be known as Mujaahid Abu Hamza in court, and Mr Adebowale, from Greenwich, south-east London, wants to be known as Ismail Ibn Abdullah.
'Schoolchildren turned back'

The court heard that the men were also armed with a gun, one use of which was to frighten off members of the public before the emergency services arrived.

As the police drove into Artillery Place, where the incident had taken place, Mr Adebolajo raised the meat cleaver above his head and moved towards the vehicle.

Mr Whittam said that meanwhile, Mr Adebowale ran along the side of a wall and aimed the gun at the officers.

Both men were then shot by the police and arrested, the jury heard.

Both men have admitted possession of a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence.

Mr Whittam said the public showed "bravery and decency" in the aftermath.

He said the events took place close to a primary school and children returning from a library visit were turned back by members of the public to avoid the "awful" scene.

Young and old people did witness the event, the prosecutor said, including a heavily pregnant woman who "took refuge on a bus" once she heard gunshots.

The case continues.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-25153273

Remember this man



Knife-wielding Islamic fanatic slaughtered soldier

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=12625&p=98392&hilit=Lee+Rigby#p98392

BBC News

A man has admitted killing soldier Lee Rigby but said it was not murder because "I am a soldier of Allah" and "this is a war". Michael Adebolajo, 28, described the killing as a "military operation". He also told the Old Bailey he loved extremist network al-Qaeda.



The prosecution says he and Michael Adebowale, 22 - who also denies murder - rammed Fusilier Rigby with a car in Woolwich, south-east London, on 22 May, before attacking him with knives.

They are also both accused of attempting to murder a police officer and conspiracy to murder a police officer.

Bible readings

Under cross examination by prosecutor Richard Whittam QC, Mr Adebolajo replied "yes" when he was asked if he had killed Fusilier Rigby, describing it as a "military operation".

Fusilier Rigby's widow Rebecca left the courtroom in tears as Mr Adebolajo claimed the soldier was still moving after being hit by the car.

He refused to answer questions about how long he had planned the attack, but said he had not planned to run down Fusilier Rigby, saying "it just so happened that Allah caused him to cross in front of my car."

He described attacking Fusilier Rigby with a meat cleaver in graphic detail, and said the soldier was already dead by the time Mr Adebowale had joined him in attacking the soldier.

Earlier the court heard Mr Adebolajo, from Romford, east London, give his name as Mujaahid Abu Hamza and confirm he was married with six children, including a seven-year-old boy and a baby who was four days old on the day of the incident.

He said he had been brought up as a Christian by his family and his parents had taken him to church every Sunday.

"The memory that sticks in my mind... is probably every New Year's Eve in the evening around 11 o'clock we would gather around in candlelight and read passages from the Bible," he said.

He converted to Islam in his first year as a student at Greenwich University.

He told the court: "My religion is everything.

"When I came to Islam I realised that... real success is not just what you can acquire, but really is if you make it to paradise, because then you can relax," he added.

Of al-Qaeda, Mr Adebolajo said: "Al-Qaeda I consider to be Mujahideen. I love them, they're my brothers. I have never met them. I consider them my brothers in Islam."



Last week the jury heard detailed and, at times, graphic detail of the prosecution's version of the events of 22 May, when 25-year-old Fusilier Rigby, of Middleton, Greater Manchester, was killed as he returned to Woolwich Barracks.

In one of the interviews Mr Adebolajo said soldiers were the "most fair target" because they joined the Army "with kind of an understanding that your life is at risk".

In court on Monday he said he had prayed the night before that he would target the right person.

"To be 100%, I don't believe there's a way to know 100% that was a soldier, however there were some steps that we took. For example before we started out on that day and the night previous to that I started worshipping Allah and begging him that... we strike a soldier and a soldier only."

He said he knew Fusilier Rigby was a soldier because of the camouflage backpack he was carrying and because he was going towards the barracks.

When he was later asked what his defence to the charge of murder was, he said: "I am a soldier. I'm a soldier of Allah".

He continued: "I understand that some people might not recognise this because we do not wear fatigues and we do not go to the Brecon Beacons and train and this sort of thing. But we are still soldiers in the sight of Allah as a mujahid.

"This is all that matters, if Allah considers me a soldier, then I am a soldier."

Last week, the court was shown mobile phone footage of Mr Adebolajo in the aftermath of the attack.


Members of Fusilier Rigby's family heard Mr Adebolajo giving evidence

On Monday he said he wanted to film the scene of the attack to get his message across without people being brainwashed by the BBC.

He said he was "almost certain" he would be shot and killed by the firearms officers who arrived at the scene of the attack in Woolwich.

Last week, CCTV footage of him running towards the police car with a meat cleaver raised was shown to the court.

He complained on Monday that the officers had not shot him in the head but said he had no grievance with them, because they were "just doing their duty".

He said he should be ransomed back to other jihadi fighters, set free or killed if he was found guilty.

Earlier, he told the court the "vast majority" of his friends growing up in Romford had been white and British.

One of them, Kirk Redpath, joined the Army and was later killed in Iraq.

Mr Adebolajo said: "I hold Tony Blair responsible for his death."

The defendant told the court that he had tried to travel to Somalia in 2010 but was captured in Kenya and returned to the UK.

The trial continues on Tuesday.

Article and video:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-25301907

British Muslim converts Michael Adebolajo, 29, and Michael Adebowale, 22, were found guilty of running the 25-year-old soldier down in a car and hacking him to death with a meat cleaver and knives in broad daylight in front of horrified onlookers on May 22 near Woolwich Barracks.



They lay in wait near the south-east London barracks and picked Fusilier Rigby after assuming he was a soldier because he was wearing a Help for Heroes hooded top and carrying a camouflage rucksack.

Within just three minutes of hitting him at 30-40mph in their Vauxhall Tigra, they had butchered the young father and were dragging his body into the middle of the road.

Adebolajo admitted killing the soldier, but denied murder on the grounds he was a ‘soldier of Allah’ and that Fusilier Rigby was a legitimate target.


Michael Adebolajo (left) and Michael Adebowale will be sentenced next year

Trial judge Mr Justice Sweeney told jurors – who took just over an hour to convict the pair – this was no legal defence, however, as neither Adebolajo nor Adebowale were able to offer any real defence for the barbaric attack during their trial, which was beset by legal delays.

Adebolajo and Adebowale were shot by police marksmen as they charged towards them when they arrived at the scene.

Adebolajo said he had run at the armed officers while wielding a meat cleaver in order to get shot, and while Adebowale did not give evidence during the four-week trial, his barrister Abbas Lakha QC said he brandished an unloaded gun with the same aim.

Jurors agreed, finding them not guilty of the attempted murder of a police officer.

Mr Justice Sweeney will pass sentence after a key appeal court ruling on the use of whole life terms in January.

Lee Rigby’s family said they were satisfied that justice had been done, saying: ‘This has been the toughest time of our lives. No one should have to go through what we have been through as a family.’

Link to entire story:

http://metro.co.uk/2013/12/19/gallery-f ... l-4237198/

BBC Magazine

The two men who killed Fusilier Lee Rigby in Woolwich have been convicted of murder and now face life in prison. Their journey towards violence is still being unravelled.



Michael Adebolajo never expected to see his 29th birthday. But he did - and it came the day after he told an Old Bailey jury he wished police had shot him in the head.

As he lay bleeding from a bullet wound in his arm, sprawled on the carriageway at Artillery Place, yards away from the mutilated remains of Fusilier Lee Rigby whom he had just killed, Adebolajo was still trying to deliver his message.

"Please let me lay here," he moaned as a paramedic assessed his wounds. "I don't want anyone to die. I just want the soldiers out of my country."

Morphine dulled the pain of a bullet hole in his bicep. He decided to give the ambulance team his arm. He mumbled that Allah had given it to him and now it was theirs.



"I wish the bullets had killed me so I can join my friends and family."

Adebolajo's original friends and family were not in the forefront of his mind the day he cut down a man down on the streets of London.

He came from a Christian family in Romford on the border of London and Essex. He had plenty of white friends, one of whom was Kirk Redpath, an Irish Guard who was killed by an insurgent's roadside bomb in Iraq.

Like his co-defendant, Adebolajo's family were hard-working Nigerian immigrants.

His parents would take him to church every Sunday and he was taught by his mother how to pray. He learned at the knee of a Jehovah's Witness called Ron - a man who he said had a massive influence on his religious outlook.



He was a bright boy - and his parents urged him to go to university. But he also had a problem with authority, unless, as he told his trial, it was his parents or God.

While he was trying to make his way in his studies, he was also developing his political and religious worldview. One of his defining childhood memories was the death of a nephew.

The young boy grieved - and concluded that academic studies might be relevant for mortal life, but "greater success" would be found in entering paradise.

By his late teens Adebolajo concluded that Islam could answer his questions - and he converted during the first year of his politics degree at Greenwich University. All around him there were protests against the devastation of the Iraq war - and Adebolajo shared that anger.

"It was the Iraq war that affected me the most," Adebolajo told the jury in Court Two of the Old Bailey. "I saw Operation Shock and Awe and it disgusted me. The way it was reported was as if it was praiseworthy, saying look at the might and awe of the West and America. Every one of those bombs was killing people."



Michael Adebowale, six years Adebolajo's junior, had a troubled upbringing. While the older Michael had entered his teenage years debating the religious and political direction of his life, Adebowale's was already out of control. By the time he was 14 he had become involved in gangs in south-east London.

Steve Adebiyi was one family friend who tried to intervene after an appeal for help from the teenager's mother.

"She brought the boy and I sat him down," said Mr Adebiyi. "I said, 'you are a young man, you have a future, look at the situation... Why are you following these non-entity people?' He was just so quiet... and said 'thank you uncle', and then he left."

Adebowale's criminal associations were soon to have fatal consequences. In January 2008, Michael Adebowale was now dealing drugs and he was looking after a flat that was being used as a crack den.

Lee James, a professional bare-knuckle fighter and addict, came to buy a hit of crack and then launched a ferocious attack on Adebowale and the two other youths who were with him.

James plunged a kitchen knife into the neck of the first youth in the flat. It was sheer chance it didn't kill or paralyse him.

Adebowale looked on in terror as the second youth, Faridon Alizada, launched at James to defend both of them. The trial judge later said it was a "hopeless mismatch" and Faridon was cut to pieces before Adebowale's eyes.

Finally, James stabbed Adebowale twice before fleeing the scene.

Lee James was jailed for life for Faridon's murder. Adebowale was convicted of drug dealing - and ultimately jailed for eight months in a young offenders' institution.

But the attack left more than physical scars. He was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and began suffering periods of acute mental illness, including delusions, such as hearing voices. This mental decline would come to play a key part in his later trial for Lee Rigby's murder.

Adebiyi says that in the aftermath of the stabbing, Adebowale fled Woolwich and wasn't seen for months.

When he later returned to his family in Woolwich, he did so as a Muslim. The police don't know when the Michaels, Adebolajo and Adebowale, first met, but it may have been around this time, given they were both converts in the same part of town.

The older Michael had by now been long kicked off his politics degree and had initially occupied himself by protesting against Western foreign policy alongside al-Muhajiroun.

Back in 2003, the group, now banned under counter-terrorism laws, was led by Omar Bakri Mohammed. He fled the UK in the wake of the 2005 London bombings and is now living in Lebanon.

The group had a considerable presence in Greenwich and the preacher claims that Adebolajo converted after coming to one of his prayer stalls in south London.

Adebolajo's and Bakri's accounts don't quite tally - but there is no doubt that the young man became involved with the organisation. He didn't stand meekly at the back.

In 2006 he joined a solidarity protest at the Old Bailey for Mizanur Rahman, a Muslim man accused of calling for the killing of British soldiers. Things got heated and Adebolajo ended up with a 51-day jail sentence for assaulting a police officer.

The following year, with al-Muhajiroun now rebranded as Muslims Against Crusades, a reference to British soldiers in Islamic countries, the BBC filmed Adebolajo standing behind Anjem Choudary, the group's leader after Bakri fled the UK.



And in 2009 he was seen again - this time marshalling a protest at a mosque trying to face down a demonstration by the English Defence League.

But then he says he went his own way. Adebolajo told his trial that he ideologically split from al-Muhajiroun.
line break

Al-Qaeda-inspired jihadists believe that Muslims cannot be at peace in the West because the West is at war with Muslim lands. The logical endpoint of that thinking is that adherents must either migrate to Islamic lands - or resort to violence because there is no "covenant of security" protecting them and their people.

In October 2010, Adebolajo had had enough of the land of disbelievers and he headed to where he thought he would find a pure form of Sharia rule - Somalia.

There, the militant al-Shabab group had formed an alliance with al-Qaeda and it had the government's forces on the back foot.

The country's porous southern border with Kenya was the entry point for the Westerners al-Shabab was inviting to join them - and Adebolajo followed a path trodden by other Brits.

He headed north from Mombasa on the Indian Ocean coast to a small fishing village close to the border. There, he and four other men waited for facilitators to whisk them across a sea channel to the welcome embrace of al-Shabab.

But it didn't work out. Someone alerted the police - and Adebolajo and the others ended up in court back in Mombasa.



Full Story & Video:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-25424290

Anthea: It is a lot of reading but the background is interesting and informative - the black gangs of London are very dangerous