We finally have a name for the Islamic terrorist who held a Rabbi and several congregants hostage at a Synagogue in the US state of Texas recently. His name is, or rather was as this bearded savage was killed by US law enforcement, Malik Faisal Akram. He hails from Blackburn and was said by Sky News to have travelled to the United States on the 2nd of January of this year.
British police are investigating Akram’s links and contacts in the United Kingdom and Greater Manchester Police have arrested two teenagers in the Manchester area in connection with this incident. The two teenagers, who have not yet been named as they have not been charged with any offence, are being held in custody for questioning and both Greater Manchester and the Metropolitan Police are liaising with the US FBI regarding this case.
As soon as I heard of this case I decided that the perpetrator of this hostage incident was unlikely to be a mentally unbalanced Methodist and was much more likely to be a follower of Islam. An act of jihad is what this incident has turned out to be.
The family of Akram have given out a statement saying that Akram was ‘mentally ill’ (oooh what a surprise the ‘mental illness’ card being played in a jihad case) and saying that they ‘do not condone’ Akram’s actions. All well and good but maybe the word ‘condemn’ would be a better choice of words to use in this case.
However what is particularly interesting is a statement put out on Facebook by a group calling itself ‘Blackburn Muslim Community’ in relation to the Texas Synagogue incident. The statement which has been screenshotted and very heavily distributed, was a call for Akram the terrorist to be blessed with ‘the highest ranks of paradise’. I don’t know about you but this statement, which is embedded below, doesn’t exactly look like it is condemning this latest Islamic terror incident.
When I saw this statement I was initially suspicious of it. After all why would a group that allegedly represents, supports and claims to speak for the Muslims of Blackburn put out a statement that looks all too much like a statement of support for a terrorist. It would be disastrous PR to do such a thing. However, this screenshot is being shared by two social media accounts that have a good reputation for truth telling and who have rarely been guilty of sharing first and asking questions later. These accounts are those of Stop Antisemitism and GnasherJew.
The fact that these two entities who are not in any way associated with the far right and who have a reputation for attacking Jew haters from the left the right and from the religious extremes are sharing this image does give it a bit of additional credibility. The statement does not exactly show the Blackburn Islamic community in all that good a light.
If we are to assume that the statement put out by the group called the ‘Blackburn Muslim Community’ is true and correct then it might be indicative of a problem. That problem could be that there are elements in the Muslim community of Blackburn are not as peaceful or integrated as some would like to think they are. Maybe GMP should be doing some digging among the mosques and Islamic community organisations in their area to ascertain whether or not this Blackburn Muslim Community group’s views are shared widely or whether or not this group is some sort of extremist outlier? But what we know we do have is a case of an Islamic terrorist who is being treated in a less than condemnatory manner by an Islamic community group.
This case raises all sorts of questions such as how long was he being radicalised and by whom and how did a man with mental illness and allegedly a criminal record manage to gain entry to the USA. Another question is how did he acquire his weapon? I suggest that being British and with no way for a gun dealer to check his background would have precluded him obtaining the weapon legally in the USA. It is therefore possible that he either had contacts in the underworld in the USA who got him the gun or he may have had accomplices in the USA who supplied the weapon. It’s quite possible that Akram is not a ‘lone wolf’ and may have many more links with Islamic extremists both in the UK and the USA than are known of at the moment. I have the feeling that there is much more to this story than meets the eye.
