The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Michael Adebolajo

  • Murder trial of two Nigerians continues in London

    The trial of two men accused of murdering soldier Lee Rigby continues at the Old Bailey, London yesterday.

    On Friday, prosecutor Richard Whittam QC delivered his opening speech to the jury.

    He said the 25-year-old was victim to “a cowardly and callous murder” when Adebolajo and Adebowale ran him over, dragged him into the middle of the road and attacked him with a meat cleaver and knife.

    He told the court: “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

    Michael Adebolajo, 28, and Michael Adebowale, 22, are charged with killing the Fusilier as he walked back to Woolwich Barracks in south-east London on May 22.

    They are also each accused of attempting to murder a police officer on the same day, and conspiracy to murder a police officer on or before that day.

    Father-of-one Fusilier Rigby, 25, from Middleton, Greater Manchester, died of multiple cut and stab wounds when he was attacked as he returned to the barracks after spending the day at the Tower of London.

    The jury was told that the car was driven “straight at” Fusilier Rigby at a speed of 30-40mph.

    Adebolajo tried to decapitate the soldier while Adebowale stabbed and cut him, the jury heard.

    Video footage of soldier Lee Rigby being mown down by a car was played in court and later released to the media.

    It showed a Vauxhall Tigra, that prosecutors claim was being driven by Adebolajo, swerve across the road and mow down the fusilier.

    Adebolajo, from Romford in Essex, has asked to be known as Mujaahid Abu Hamza in court, while Adebowale, from Greenwich, south-east London, has asked to be called Ismail Ibn Abdullah.

    Trial continues today.

  • UK attack: Adebolajo charged for murder

    UK attack: Adebolajo charged for murder

    Michael Adebolajo has been charged with the murder of Drummer Lee Rigby, who was hacked to death in Woolwich, southeast London, last month.

    Sky News says Adebolajo, 28, is also accused of the attempted murder of two police officers and possessing a firearm.

    Another man, Michael Adebowale, 22, has already been charged with murdering the young soldier and is due to appear at the Old Bailey on Monday.

    Meanwhile, two men, aged 42 and 46, held on suspicion of being involved in the supply of guns in connection with the killing have been bailed.

    They are due to return to a south London police station later this month.

    Father-of-one Mr. Rigby suffered “extensive and serious” injuries and had to be identified by a dental expert, an inquest into his death heard.

    The 25-year-old was killed near the Royal Artillery Barracks in Woolwich on May 22, as he returned from a day working at the Tower of London.

    A short hearing at Southwark Coroner’s Court was told Drummer Rigby was hit by a car before being attacked by two men armed with a cleaver and a knife.

    A post-mortem has confirmed he died from multiple cut and stab wounds.

     

  • UK murder suspect Adebolajo leaves hospital

    UK murder suspect Adebolajo leaves hospital

    Suspected Woolwich attacker Michael Adebolajo has left hospital and is being questioned by police over the killing of Drummer Lee Rigby, Sky News reports.

    The 28-year-old had already been arrested on suspicion of the solder’s murder, but he has been further arrested on suspicion of the attempted murder of a police officer.

    Adebolajo has been taken from hospital to a south London police station.

    “He remains in custody and will be interviewed by detectives from the Metropolitan Police Service Counter Terrorism Command,” a police statement said.

    Michael Adebowale, 22, has already been charged with murdering the young soldier and is due to appear at the Old Bailey on Monday.

    Drummer Rigby, 25, was hacked to death near Woolwich barracks in southeast London last week after he was hit by a car.

    Adebowale and Adebolajo were both shot by armed response teams in Woolwich in the wake of the murder.

    An inquest into Drummer Rigby’s death opened earlier and heard that he was killed as he returned to his barracks after a day working at the Tower of London.

    He suffered “extensive and serious” injuries and had to be identified by a dental expert, the inquest also heard.

    Several people have so far been held by detectives investigating the soldier’s death, including a 42-year-old man who was arrested on suspicion of being involved in the illegal supply of guns.

     

  • Adebowale charged for murder of British soldier

    A man has been charged with the murder of soldier Lee Rigby in Woolwich, south-east London, police has said.

    Michael Adebowale, 22, of Greenwich, London, who will appear later at Westminster Magistrates’ Court, is also accused of possessing a firearm.

    A second man, Michael Adebolajo, 28, remains under arrest at a London hospital and is in a stable condition, BBC reports.

    A post-mortem examination found Drummer Rigby, 25, died of “multiple incised wounds” after the attack the May 22 attack.

    Mr. Adebowale, who was discharged from hospital on Tuesday, and the other suspect were shot by police at the time they were arrested.

    Sue Hemming, head of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) Special Crime and Counter-terrorism Division, said: “Crown Prosecutors have been working with the investigators of Counter Terrorism Command since the killing of Drummer Lee Rigby on May 22.

    “Following the release of Michael Adebowale from hospital, we have authorised the police to charge him with the murder of Drummer Rigby.

    “We have also authorised police to charge him with possession of a firearm, contrary to section 16A of the Firearms Act 1968.

    “There is sufficient evidence to prosecute Michael Adebowale and it is in the public interest to do so.”

    The CPS said it was continuing to advise police over other suspects arrested during the investigation into Drummer Rigby’s death.

    Scotland Yard said the inquest into Drummer Rigby’s death would open at Southwark Coroner’s Court on Friday.

    On Wednesday, Commander Simon Letchford of the Metropolitan Police made a fresh appeal for information and witnesses following the street attack near the Royal Artillery Barracks in Woolwich.

     

  • UK attack: Three suspects released on bail

    Three men who were held on suspicion of conspiracy to commit murder following the death of Drummer Lee Rigby have been released on bail.

    The trio, aged 21, 24 and 28, were arrested in southeast London on Saturday, three days after the 25-year old soldier was hit by a car and then attacked with a knife and a meat cleaver in Woolwich, Sky News reports.

    They have been bailed to return to a south London police station, the Metropolitan Police said.

    Michael Adebolajo, 28, and Michael Oluwatobi Adebowale, 22, who were arrested on suspicion of murder at the scene of the killing on Wednesday, remain under arrest.

    Counter-terrorism officers are also continuing to question a 22-year-old man in Highbury Grove, north London, who was arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to murder.

    Meanwhile, anti-terror police in Nairobi have confirmed that Adebolajo was also arrested in Kenya in 2010.

    Adebolajo appeared in court in Mombasa suspected of leading a group of Islamists trying to join the al Shabaab group.

    Anti-terrorism unit chief Boniface Mwaniki said Adebolajo was believed to have been preparing to train and fight with the al Qaeda-linked Somali militant group.

     

  • ‘Woolwich suspect Adebolajo was held in Kenya’

    One of the suspects in the Woolwich murder case was arrested in Kenya in 2010, the Foreign Office has confirmed.

    It said Michael Adebolajo was arrested there and it gave consular assistance “as normal” in the circumstances.

    The suspect was believed to have been preparing to fight with Somali militant group al-Shabab. He was later arrested and deported, a Kenyan government spokesman told the BBC.

    Meanwhile, police investigating soldier Lee Rigby’s murder have arrested a 22-year-old man in north London.

    The arrest at Highbury Grove, on suspicion of conspiracy to murder, brings the total number made so far in the case to nine.

    Several hundred people have gathered at the scene of the murder, some chanting Mr. Rigby’s name and waving Help for Heroes flags.

    The Met Police said it was aware of a planned community event in which a group of people intended to lay a wreath.

    A small group of English Defence League members have also joined the crowd.

    The Kenyan government had previously denied that Mr. Adebolajo had ever visited the country, but spokesman Muthui Kariuki said there had been some confusion as he was arrested under a different name.

    Mr. Adebolajo was handed over to United Kingdom authorities when it emerged he was a British citizen, he added.

    In video footage of his court appearance which emerged on Sunday, Mr. Adebolajo is heard to say: “These people are mistreating us, we are innocent.”

     

  • M5 ‘approached Woolwich suspect’

    MI5 asked Woolwich murder suspect Michael Adebolajo if he wanted to work for them about six months before the killing, a childhood friend has said.

    Abu Nusaybah told BBC Newsnight his friend – one of two men arrested after Drummer Lee Rigby’s murder in south-east London on Wednesday – had rejected the approach from the security service.

    The BBC could not obtain any confirmation from Whitehall sources.

    Abu Nusaybah was arrested at the BBC after giving the interview.

    The Met Police said a 31-year-old man had been arrested at 21:30 BST on Friday in relation to suspected terrorism offences and search warrants were being executed at two homes in east London.

    The arrest was not directly related to the murder of Drummer Rigby, it said.

    The soldier was killed in front of dozens of people near Woolwich Barracks, where he was based, on Wednesday afternoon.

    Mr. Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale, who was also arrested at the scene, remain in hospital after being shot by police.

    In his Newsnight interview, Abu Nusaybah said he thought “a change” had taken place in his friend after his detention by security forces on a trip to Kenya last year.

    Abu Nusaybah said Mr. Adebolajo suggested he had been physically and sexually abused during an interrogation in a prison cell in the African country.

     

  • Woolwich: Security services defended

    Woolwich: Security services defended

    The government has defended security services against criticism they missed signs which might have helped prevent the murder of a soldier in London.

    The United Kingdom’s security services face a Commons inquiry after it was confirmed the two men arrested over the murder of Drummer Lee Rigby were known to MI5.

    But Communities Secretary Eric Pickles said it was impossible to control everyone all the time.

    The suspects are known to be Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale.

    Mr. Pickles told BBC Breakfast: “Peers and MPs will do a thorough investigation in terms of what the security forces knew but I’ve seen experts on security explaining how difficult it is in a free society to be able to control everyone.”

    Drummer Rigby, 25, was murdered on a street in Woolwich, south-east London on Wednesday afternoon.

    A prayer service was held for Drummer Rigby in his home town

    Shortly after the killing, a man, thought to be 28-year-old Mr. Adebolajo, was filmed by a passer-by, saying he had carried out the attack because British soldiers killed Muslims every day.

    Armed police arrived on the scene 13 minutes after the first 999 call and shot the two suspected attackers, who had made no attempt to flee.

    More than 30 people have been attending a prayer service in Drummer Rigby’s hometown of Middleton, Greater Manchester on Friday morning. Residents on the Langley estate where he grew up are being urged to fly union jacks by community activists.

    The former head of counter terrorism at MI6, Richard Barrett, told BBC Two’s Newsnight programme how hard it could be to detect attacks of the type seen in Woolwich – despite the suspects having been known to MI5 for eight years.

     

  • ‘London attackers are British-born Nigerians’

    ‘London attackers are British-born Nigerians’

    British authorities believe that two men accused of hacking a soldier to death on a London street in revenge for wars in Muslim countries are British of Nigerian descent, a source close to the investigation told Reuters on Thursday.

    Local media named one of the two suspects as British-born, 28-year-old Londoner Michael Adebolajo and said police raided homes of relatives in the city and near the town of Lincoln. Both men involved in Wednesday’s attack appeared to have converted to Islam from Christian backgrounds, media said.

    Adebolajo and the other man, who may have been born abroad, are both in custody in hospitals after being shot by police.

    As security experts highlighted the risk to Western cities of “lone wolf” attacks – similar to last month’s Boston Marathon bombing – by local people radicalized over the Internet.

    Prime Minister David Cameron held an emergency meeting of his intelligence chiefs to assess the response to what he called a “terrorist” attack; it was the first deadly strike in mainland Britain since local Islamists killed dozens in London in 2005.

    “We will never give in to terror or terrorism in any of its forms,” Cameron said outside his Downing Street office.

    “This was not just an attack on Britain and on the British way of life, it was also a betrayal of Islam and of the Muslim communities who give so much to our country. There is nothing in Islam that justifies this truly dreadful act.”

    He noted that security sources have said both suspects had been known to intelligence services and said there would in due course be a routine review of how intelligence had been handled.

    One source close to the inquiry said the apparently local backgrounds of the suspects in a multicultural metropolis – nearly 40 percent of all Londoners were born abroad – and the simplicity of the attack made such incidents hard to prevent.

    “Apart from being horribly barbaric, this was relatively straightforward to carry out,” the source said. “This was quite low-tech and that is frankly pretty challenging.”