UK brothers demand police apology

One of the two London brothers released without charge after being arrested in an anti-terrorist raid has said their only crime was being Muslim.

Kahar (R) is recovering from a bullet wound to the chest

Mohammed Abdul Kahar, 23, who is recovering from a bullet wound to the chest, and Abdul Koyair, 20, demanded an apology from police who ordered and carried out the dawn swoop on their east London home on June 2.

Speaking publicly for the first time about their ordeal, Kahar told reporters: “The only crime I have done in their eyes is being Asian and with a long length of beard.”

London’s Metropolitan Police and its chief, Ian Blair, have come under fire for mounting such a large-scale but ultimately fruitless raid.

Officers spent a week scouring the brothers’ house in Forest Gate, reportedly looking for some kind of chemical weapon, but found nothing to support their suspicions.

Shot ‘without warning’

Describing the raid at a news conference with his brother, Koyair said they were woken by the sound of smashing glass and believed their home was being burgled because police did not identify themselves.

“They tried to murder my brother,” Koyair said.


“They tried to murder my brother. They dragged me away from my brother and they dragged me down the stairs and they were hitting me”

Abdul Koyair,
arrested in police raid

“They dragged me away from my brother and they dragged me down the stairs and they were hitting me.”

Kahar said the police officer gave no warning before pulling the trigger.
   
“We both had eye contact; he shot me straight away.

“I just saw an orange spark and a big bang. I flew into the wall, slipped down. There was blood coming down my chest. At that moment I knew I was shot.”

The elder brother said that as he lay on the stairs, bleeding and fearing for his family, he was kicked in the face by a police officer.

He said he was grabbed and dragged down the stairs and thrown on the pavement outside.

It was only then he realised the men raiding his house were police.

Justice call

Kahar’s shooting, which is under investigation, has stirred memories of the police killing of a Brazilian man who was wrongly identified as a suicide bomber on the London subway in July.

Ian Blair has been criticised for the fruitless raid
Ian Blair has been criticised for the fruitless raid

Ian Blair has been criticised for
the fruitless raid

Asked about the future of Blair, the Metropolitan Police commissioner, the brothers stopped short of calling for him to resign.

Koyair said: “Whoever is responsible should be put to justice, whoever gave the order for this to happen.”

The east London raid, which involved about 250 police, some wearing chemical, biological and radiological protection suits, was one of the biggest since July’s suicide bombings killed 52 commuters in the capital, London.

The apparent failure to find evidence of what one police source called “some form of viable chemical device” and the subsequent release of Kahar and his brother have raised questions over the intelligence that led to the pre-dawn raid.

The pair were released without charge last week after being arrested under the Terrorism Act 2000.

Both denied any link to terrorism and said they did not know why police had raided their house.

London police have apologised for the disruption caused by the raid but say they had no choice but to act.

Source: News Agencies