Beware the ideas of March - Brummie Shakespeare
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British Airways software engineer turned terrorist is convicted
SOFTWARE ENGINEER Rajib Karim has been found guilty of supplying information about airlines for a terrorist attack and will be sentenced at Woolwich Crown Court on 18 March.
While not making violent propaganda videos for proscribed terrorist organisation Jamaat -ul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) Karim worked at British Airways' IT department in Newcastle.
Taking privacy seriously, Karim encrypted just about everything on his Acer laptop he used for his evil deeds. The Metropolitan Police Service Counter Terrorism Command spent nine months decrypting 300 coded messages found on the hard drive. Give credit where credit is due, Karim clearly did a fair job although we doubt Inspector Knacker of Scotland Yard's IT department is too proficient.
Keeping it in the family, what Karim was keeping encrypted were his nefarious attempts to raise funds with his younger brother Tehzeeb Karim and pals for JMB, al-Qaeda and other terrorists who at the time were fighting in Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Yemen.
It's nice to travel and more so when it is part of your hobby but Karim's cohorts took things a bit too far when his brother and two chums went to Yemen via Bangladesh to meet radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaqi. The cleric allegedly works with al-Qaeda's latest franchise that calls itself al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). Tough branding decisions there no doubt. µ
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Not to be offensive, but if you're fighting an invading army, it doesn't matter how well intentioned the invading army is, you can't be classified as a terrorist. Well, you can, but it's a bastardization of the term.
In order to be a terrorist you have to perform violent acts on NON-COMBATANTS. IEDs against British and American forces(and a few other forces) is rather unpleasant and certainly unwelcome, but isn't terrorism.
If we're ever going to get along as a planet, we have to learn to be fair with our labels. Quick quiz, what is the biggest terrorist attack ever committed?
(a) Hiroshima nuclear bomb dropped in WWII by the US
(b)9/11 Twin Towers demolition with people still inside.
(c) subway bombing in London(I think it was London, I need to read the news more)
Let's have the doubters fly on the next plane to be downed by terrorists. Then they can confirm who the bad guys are or are not.
Last time I checked, in most judicial systems you have to prove a person committed a crime. Conspiracy is a crime. It would appear the case against this person was pretty solid.
So I'm a bit confused, he sent money home to his family and that and encrypting stuff is enough to become a terrorist now? Or what?
Good thing I'm a cheapskate and thus a righteous person I guess :)
And incidentally, what are the chances they just made up the content of those 'decrypted' messages? After all you can't prove they aren't what they claim since they are encrypted, bit of a conundrum there.
Thankfully this terrorist is off the streets but it should be a wake-up call to the naive who don't take terrorism seriously.