The Muslim News - Ordeal of Abdul Kahar shot by police

Issue 206, Friday 30 June 2006 - 5 Jumad al-Akhbar 1427

Ordeal of Abdul Kahar shot by police

By Elham Asaad Buaras

The innocent young Muslim shot in the chest by anti-terror police during a bungled terror raid in Forest Gate, east London, has expressed fears that he was being “framed” as a terrorist. In an interview with The Muslim News, 23 year-old Mohammed Abdul Kahar Kalam spoke about his “flashbacks” and dramatic effects of the infamous raid on his life.
With his right arm still in a sling a teary-eyed Abdul Kahar said, “Every time I close my eyes I get flashbacks, I remember the sound and the lights and the thought of dying. It’s turned my life upside down, nothing feels the same. I feel like a different person.”
At a press conference four days after he and his 20-year old brother Abul Koyair Kalam were released on Friday June 9, they recalled details of the error-ridden pre-dawn raid on their family home in Lansdown Road by MI5 and Anti-Terrorist Police and the hectic seven days spent in custody. “From my room I could hear this screaming so I got out of bed, put on my boxer shorts and a t-shirt. As I opened the bedroom door it was dark. I could still hear screaming. I assumed a robbery was happening,” said Abdul Kahar, a Royal Mail driver and part-time Tesco superviser.
“The first thing I was thinking was that an armed robbery was taking place. As I went down, I saw an object flying in my face, so I put my hand over my face. At that moment, I did not know what object it was, but I know now it was a gun.” As he made his way downstairs he “turned around, we (himself and the officer) both had eye contact, he shot me straight away. I saw an orange spark and there was a big bang. I flew into the wall and sat down on the floor. I looked at my chest and saw blood coming down my chest. I knew I was shot.”
The 23 year-old said he was given no warning before being shot in the chest. “He (the officer) looked at me and shot me and I fell on the floor. I did not know I was shot until I saw my wound.”
“I was begging ‘please, please, I cannot move’. To which they responded, ‘shut the f#@k up, stay here, stay here’. At that moment I thought they were going to shoot me again or shoot my brother,” he related.
“I heard them shouting, ‘secure the room’. At that moment I still did not know they were the police, they never said a word about the police.
“They grabbed and dragged me down the stairs and then threw me on the pavement (outside). I just thought they’re going to kill us. I was begging them, I asked them to spare my life,” he said.
His voice broke as he recalled hearing the screams of his mother as she was taken out of the house by police. He said, “I thought they were going to kill us all.”
He criticised Prime Minister, Tony Blair, for publicly backing the raid, saying, “The first thing I thought was I hope he would say the same thing if it was his son - I’m the same age as his son.”
He also said he did not support terrorism. “Violence is not in my nature. It’s not in my religion,” he said.
Once in hospital, Abdul Kahar asked the doctor not to allow him to be taken away to be interviewed, as he had seen police officers asking the doctor to release him early.
He said while he was being interrogated officers repeatedly asked him if he was a member the Ku Klux Klan. “I didn’t know whether to laugh or whether it was completely serious. They were thinking I was a white terrorist now. They were not joking. They kept saying, ‘Tell us what’s in the house’ and I kept saying ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about. That’s my family house’.”
His younger brother, Abul Koyair, recalled being woken up by an alarm, which appeared to be coming from inside their house. He said his elder brother emerged from his own bedroom going downstairs before suddenly being shot. “After that it was all quiet. No one said anything. It was like a dream. After about one or two minutes I realised that this was not a dream. I realised that my own brother had got shot for no reason. They tried to murder my brother.”
He then saw the police officers dragging his brother downstairs, hitting him as they went. Abul Koyair said, “I kept thinking, why didn’t they shoot me instead? At that time I kept saying to the officer, ‘please tell me, is my brother ok? Is my brother ok?’, they told me, ‘just shut up, don’t say a word, and look down on the floor.’ It seemed like fire. I was burning.”
Abul Koyair, who once considered applying to become a community police officer, said he no longer wanted to join the force after the events of June 2.
The brothers’ testimonies could pile more pressure on Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Sir Ian Blair, who has faced fresh calls to resign since the brothers were released without charge, a week after their arrest.
Although he supported the role of the police, Abdul Kahar said, “Without the police the country would be lawless. I want everyone that was involved in it to apologise. All the way through my detention I kept thinking they are going to frame me, they are going to frame me. I’m a law-abiding citizen. I was born and bred in east London. I love my town. I ain’t done nothing to this country. This is my country. I love everyone around.”
He said he felt no pain from the shot at first but claimed he felt scared as officers allegedly attacked him after he was shot.
He also alleged that no one from the police had had “the decency to phone up and apologise.” Not even the senior officer had said sorry, he said.
“I want everyone that was involved, whoever gave the order for the raid to happen, for the shot to go off, everyone involved to apologise.”
According to sources a nervous mysterious caller alerted the police saying that the Bangladeshi home was a bomb factory and in it was a chemical vest. Police and MI5 were also informed that there was a kitchen sink full of chemicals thus contemplating the fear of the family home being a bomb factory.
Abdul Kahar said he “had no idea” who could have informed the police but said, “From my point of view the person who did this (who made the call) they have terrorised me and my family. My only crime was being Asian and Muslim with a beard.”
250 police officers - some wearing chemical protective suits - raided the home at 4am. Detectives were allowed to detain the brothers until Friday June 9, for questioning when they were released without charge.
One week of intense searching of properties, Anti-Terrorist Branches and MI5 specialists failed to find any evidence against the two brothers.
The police were forced to apologise for the “hurt” they have caused just hours after the brothers made their statements on June 9. Assistant Commissioner, Andy Hayman, said the Met had “listened intently” to their comments.
“I am aware that in mounting this operation, we have caused disruption and inconvenience to many residents in Newham and more importantly those that reside at 46 and 48 Lansdowne Road. I apologise for the hurt that we may have caused.”
“Specific intelligence” led police to the address, Hayman said. “While we have not found evidence of what we were looking for at the house, the intelligence received did raise serious concerns for public safety. On that basis we had no choice but to mount a robust operation, which required a fast armed response.”
Hayman would not comment on Abdul Kahar’s shooting, as a Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) inquiry into the incident is underway. But the operation stirred strong feelings throughout the Muslim communities. According to the newly elected Secretary General of the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB), Dr Muhammad Abdul Bari, the trust between the Muslim community and the police may break down if similar cases were to be repeated.
Dr Abdul Bari told The Muslim News, “It is important that both the Muslim community and the police work together but if the community involved feels targeted and vulnerable then they cannot work together.” He added that a family member told him that the family was “traumatised” during the ordeal and the mother “fainted several times” during the ordeal.
Friday June 11, saw protests made by local Muslim communities outside Scotland Yard against the raid. The brothers’ sister, Humeya Kalam, said, “I would like to thank all those people who, through their prayers, have supported us during this traumatic ordeal. Insh’Allah, I hope that this continues. We are very relieved to have them back after the hell we went through last week. My brothers would like to have come today to show unity. However, they are unable to do so because they are still recovering from their injuries, both physically as well as mentally. Once again, I would like to express my gratitude on behalf of my family for organising this peaceful protest and Insh’Allah this protest will help highlight the fact that no other innocent family should be forced to go through the same nightmare that we went through.”
The series of errors and misinformation are reminiscent to a similar case police left the young Brazilian Jean Charles de Menezes dead last July. Mistaken for a suicide bomber, Jean Charles de Menezes was shot seven times in the head and once in the shoulder by police.
On his way to a job in Kilburn, Electrician de Menezes was followed by Anti-Terrorist police from his three story high flat in Tulse Hill in South London. Identified as a suicide bomber as he was described to have been wearing a bulky jacket, in which intelligence assumed had a bomb underneath it. As he entered Stockwell Station the police also accused de Menezes of running down escalators and jumping over ticket barriers. Yet after the tragic incident, CCTV footage revealed another story; de Menezes was not wearing a bulky top, just a denim jacket. De Menezes did not run down escalators nor did he jump over ticket barriers, he used his travel card.
When cornered by the police, witnesses of the De Menezes shooting stated that, like the in the Forest Gate raid, police failed to identify themselves before shooting the supposed suspects. And like the De Menezes case, the brothers were also victims of media misinformation, speculations and seemingly untraceable leaks. Abul Koyair said he was left “really upset” by allegation by the News of The World he had shot his brother. “I would never lay a finger on my brother.” The brothers also dismissed allegations by some of the media that their brother was involved in controversial cartoon demonstrations when one protester stood dressed as a suicide bomber.
Faulty leaks to the press was also pointed out by Director of the civil liberties group, Liberty, Shami Chakrabarti, who told The Muslim News, “The trust we all need to build is undermined by the briefings to the press about chemical weapons. We need to ask, ‘Where was that coming from?’”
In a statement to The Muslim News IPCC Commissioner for London and the South-East, Deborah Glass, said, “The conflicting reports circulating in the media highlight the need for an independent investigation to establish what really happened. The investigation is currently focused on the circumstances of the discharge of the police firearm. This will include examining the justification for the authorisation of firearms for the police operation. The investigation may take several months to complete.”
Additional reporting by Lamyaa Khammal