Mohammed Hamid (born 1957 in Tanzania) is a British citizen convicted of training the terrorists who committed the 21 July 2005 London Bombings.^[1] Dubbed "Osama Bin London" by the press during his trial,^[2] he became radicalised as a follower of Abdullah el-Faisel.

Early life

Born in 1957 to an Indian Muslim family then residing in Tanzania, Hamid - known as "Babou" to his family of four brothers and seven sisters - immigrated to the United Kingdom aged 5. His parents and relatives were engaged in the clothing trade in Batley, West Yorkshire. In 1960, Hamid was sent to live with his elder brother in Hackney, London. Hamid gained a reputation for petty criminality, serving multiple sentences in juvenile detention (borstal); he dropped out of school to work at a garage, but his criminal career continued in the adult prison system for robbery.^[3]

His first marriage, apparently unregistered, was to an Afro-Caribbean woman named Linda with whom he had a son and a daughter.

After his divorce Hamid became addicted to crack cocaine, which he blamed for his criminal behaviour; when asked about his addiction history at trial, he told the court that his addiction compelled him to abandon his children and selling everything to sustain his habit.

In order to fix his addiction, he moved to India where he met and married his second wife, a committed Muslim. The couple settled in Hamid's council flat in Clapton, London. As the couple had four children, Hamid began coaching youth sports. Yet Hamid became ever more radical in his religious beliefs, adopting Muslim grab, preaching at Speaker's Corner, and - in 1996 - opening an Islamist bookshop which became the foundation of his terrorist activities.

Life after religion

The death of Muhammad Hamid’s father and his new life with his second wife was a big factor in his new dedication to the Islam religion. Soon, Mohammed Hamid rediscovered a new version of his faith after a trip to the Mosque.He also was known to take drugs during this time. He opened an Islamic bookshop al-Koran in the Clapton area of east London and started attending rallies at Speaker’s Corner in Hyde Park after the 9/11 attacks for many years. He had devoted his life to living by his religion of Islam and even wore traditional gowns. It was during this time when he began to become increasingly radical and vocal. After attending many rallies and reaching out to Muslim individuals, Mohammed Hamid soon became a disciple of the radical preacher Abdullah el-Faisal, and is known to be influenced by his radical teachings.^[4] He eventually started to rise the ranks and assemble his own terrorist cell.

21 July 2005 London Bombing

On Thursday 21 July 2005, 4 terrorist attackers attempted to bomb parts of London’s transportation system but were unsuccessful. The explosions occurred around midday at the Shepherd's Bush, Warren Street and Oval stations in the London underground. There was also an explosion on a bus in Bethnal Green. Only one minor injury was reported during the bombing and the suspects fled the scenes after their bombs failed to explode. As a result, the police operated a manhunt to find the suspects. However, during the manhunt, Jean Charles de Menezes was shot and killed after police misidentified him as one of the suspected bombers. Muktar Ibrahim, 29, Yassin Omar, 26, Ramzi Mohammed, 25, and Hussain Osman, 28, were found guilty of conspiracy to murder.^[5] The four attempted bombers were each sentenced to life imprisonment, with a minimum of 40 years' imprisonment.^[5] With these attempted bombers, Mohammed Hamid and Mousa Brown had also been arrested for relations with these bombers. Mousa Brown was later found not guilty and was dropped of all charges. However, police say that the Islamic extremist Mohammed Hamid played a crucial role in training/preparing the young men who were involved in the 21/7 bombing for terrorism.^[3] There was evidence that Hamid had communicated with these attackers before the attack and after previous terrorist attacks.

Sentencing

After a five-month trial at the Wollwich crown court, Mohammad Hamid was found guilty of training terrorists in secret camps, abusing drugs, and conspiring.^[6] This case trial was the first to deal with a new offence under the Terrorism Act of 2006: attending a place for terrorist training. He was arrested, along with fourteen other men after the 2005 London bombings and for providing terrorist training. Hamid was recorded telling his terrorist recruits that he had wanted to see many atrocities before the 2012 Olympics and hailed the September 11 hijackers.^[3] The court ruled that there is evidence that Mohammed Hamid had relations with the four suicide bombers involved in the 21 July 2005 London Bombing and did in fact train them. On 26 February 2008 Hamid was found guilty on three counts of providing terrorist training and three counts of soliciting murder.^[2] The court also ruled that he was fully guilty of providing terrorist training to the individuals responsible for the bombing training in the New Forest in April 2006 and at a Berkshire paint balling centre in June 2006. However, the jury at Woolwich Crown Court found him not guilty of providing weapons training. Hamid was said to be training the terrorist bombers through camping trips around the UK, paint balling arenas and was encouraging others to murder non believers.^[6] Mohammed Hamid was sentenced indefinitely with a minimum of seven and a half years for the protection of the public.^[7] Hamid has been regarded as a key figure in extremist networks and his conviction has been viewed a major success for counter-terrorism policies for the court and Britain.

Controversy

There has been controversy over the imprisonment of Mohammed Hamid. Some claim that Mohammed Hamid is one of the many victims of Britain’s war on terror who has been sent to prison mainly for their Islamic religion. There has been debate that there has not been sufficient evidence to prove that camping and practicing paintball was enough to convict Hamid of training terrorists. Furthermore, the counts of drug abuse had little to no evidence. When asked about his act of reaching out to many young Muslims, Hamid claimed that he was trying to offer support to Muslims because they were vulnerable after the 9/11 attack.^[2] Along with other supporters, Mohammed’s daughter Yasmin has launched a campaign to demand freedom for her father. She and the supporters claim that Mohammed Hamid had no relations with the London 21/7 attack and claimed Mohammed had been wrongly imprisoned. Mousa Brown had been accused and charged under the 2006 terrorism act for providing terrorist training and receiving terrorist training. The reason for these charges was for his involvement in the sport of paint balling at the locations where Mohammed trained. Later his charges were dropped but there have been claims that Mohammed Hamid was wrongly accused and imprisoned for his Muslim background and has become a victim of prejudice against Muslims.

External links

• Don't Panic, I'm Islamic -- Mohammed Hamid paintballing on the BBC
• Free Mohammed Hassan Hamid Campaign: http://freehamid.blogspot.com

References