Islam - Current Day > Ex-Child Soldier Murders Man in London; Jamaican Jihadist Convicted of Terrorism Charges in NYC

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London man killed by ex-child soldier despite skateboarders intervention

Ed Southgate, The Sun

Published: 8:49, 2 Feb 2023, Updated: 10:09, 2 Feb 2023

A FORMER child soldier killed a stranger in a vicious attack in front of horrified shoppers.

Tedi Fanta Hagos, 27, murdered Stephen Dempsey, 60, by jumping on him from behind with a blade at night.

Tedi Fanta killed Stephen DempseyCredit: Central News; He attacked his victim on Oxford Street. Credit: PA

Two skateboarder witnesses hit Tedi with their boards to try disarm him and helped to restrain him in July 2021 on Oxford Street, London.

Mr Dempsey, who was born in Belfast, suffered four stab wounds and died in hospital later that night from a chest wound.

Prosecutor Caroline Carberry KC told the Old Bailey Fanta was "seen carrying out a ferocious, random and unprovoked attack on a helpless and unsuspecting member of the public".

She said: "His victim could have been anyone who was in close proximity to him during the course of that day in central London.

"Sadly for Stephen Dempsey and his family, it was him."

Because Fanta, who was suffering from paranoid schizophrenia, was deemed unfit to stand trial, jurors did not have to determine his guilt - only if they were sure he committed the acts he was accused of, Ms Carberry said.

They deliberated for less than an hour on Wednesday to find he had had a knife and carried out the murder.

The court was told Eritrean-born Fanta, who arrived in Britain in 2014, had convictions for criminal damage and assaulting a police officer and emergency worker and was on bail at the time of the killing.

He had been arrested on June 18, 2021 for "brandishing a saw" in Swansea and then bailed to appear at Swansea Magistrates' Court, the trial of facts heard.

Good grief! 

Mr Dempsey's sister Kathleen Dempsey has expressed concerns about how and why her brother was killed, the court was also told.

In a victim impact statement, Ms Dempsey said her brother was an "unassuming" man who had lived in Leigh-on-Sea in Essex since he was a child.

She said the retired civil servant had a "brilliant mind" and a "dry sense of humour" and loved live music and languages, particularly French.

Mitigating, Patrick Upward KC said Fanta was conscripted into the Eritrean army aged 12 or 13.

In the years of conflict that followed, the defendant was shot and tortured, Mr Upward said.

He eventually sought sanctuary in the UK and was granted refugee status but "by then the damage had been done".

Mr Upward said Fanta was a "very, very ill young man".

Judge Michael Topolski KC handed Fanta a hospital order without limit of time.

He said Fanta launched a "random and wholly unprovoked attack" and praised passers-by who went to Mr Dempsey's aid.

He said Fanta had made seven court appearances in the past and been sectioned in 2020, adding: "This defendant slipped through the system unnoticed, uncared for, untreated and very dangerous."

How could an ex-child soldier slip through the system unnoticed? The system seems pretty pathetic.

Detective Chief Inspector Geoff Grogan said: "My heart goes out to Stephen's family, especially his mother, who lost him in such terrible circumstances.

"While I know there is precious little comfort in the wake of this awful story, I hope they will take solace knowing that people tried to help Stephen when he so needed it.

"Those two brave members of the public should know how greatly their actions were and are appreciated by Stephen's family.

This is not the first time I have heard of skateboarders risking their lives for a stranger. Check this out!

"The judge formally recognised their actions, and two other members of the public, with commendations for their bravery.

"I would also like to thank my team of detectives, who were absolutely determined to obtain Stephen's family justice."

How about "the system" that made it all possible?

Oxford St., London

NYC: Muslim cleric urged Muslims to ‘cut the throats’ of non-Muslims,

recruited for the Islamic State (ISIS)

FEB 3, 2023 12:00 PM 

BY ROBERT SPENCER

Jihad Watch

Where on earth could he have gotten that idea that Muslims should cut the throats of non-Muslims?

“When you meet the unbelievers, strike the necks…” (Qur’an 47:4)

“Radical Muslim leader convicted of recruiting ISIS supporters,” 

by Patrick Reilly, 

New York Post, 

January 26, 2023:

A radical Islamic cleric was convicted of recruiting and providing support for ISIS, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg announced on Thursday.

Shaikh Abdullah Faisal, 59, an Islamic State recruiter and marriage broker was found guilty of “far reaching crimes” of terrorism following New York state’s first-ever terrorism trial, according to the DA’s office.

Faisal, a Jamaica native who prosecutors described as “one of the most influential English speaking terrorists of our times,” preached violent jihad and pushed for ISIS recruitment on his social media platforms and tried to inspire others to commit acts of terror themselves in ISIS’ name.

He additionally provided instructions on how potential fighters could best travel to Syria and Iraq undetected and worked as a matchmaker for women looking to get hitched to Islamic militants.

Faisal was arrested in Jamaica in 2017 and then extradited to New York City following a joint investigation by the NYPD’s Intelligence Bureau and the Manhattan DA’s Office’s Counter Terrorism Program — which was established in 2015 to investigate extremists and thwart terror plots, according to the DA’s office.

In 2016, Faisal began communicating with an undercover NYPD officer via email, text and video chat from his home in Jamaica in a bid to encourage her to travel to the Middle East to join ISIS and carry out attacks. He also offered to introduce the woman — who was posing as a would-be jihadist — to a suitable husband within the terror group.

The militant, who previously went by Trevor William Forrest, urged the undercover officer to listen to his online speeches and lectures in which he encouraged followers to wage jihad against enemies of Islam and even kill Americans, Jews and Hindus.

“The way forward is not the ballot. The way forward is the bullet,” he said in one speech, according to his indictment. In another, he urged followers to “cut the throats” of nonbelievers with machetes.

Faisal was previously convicted in the United Kingdom in 2003 for inciting murder and using racially charged, hateful rhetoric to support terrorist ideologies….

And, obviously, didn't spend all that long in prison. Lets hope he is not allowed to resume his mad activities again.

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Bizarre Criminal Record for Guantanamo Bay Youth Survivor

Omar Khadr's criminal record in Canada shows 'absolute ignorance,' lawyer says

Document refers to conviction by Guantanamo Bay 'youth court,' refers erroneously to concurrent sentences

By Colin Perkel, The Canadian Press 

Omar Khadr was released from prison in 2015 pending an appeal of his U.S. conviction,

which could take several more years. (Terry Reith/CBC)

Omar Khadr's official criminal record in Canada contains oddities and errors that are at odds with how the federal government viewed him on his return from the notorious prison on the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

The record, obtained by The Canadian Press, makes no reference to the fact that Khadr, 30, was convicted by an internationally condemned U.S. military commission for purported offences he committed as a 15-year-old in Afghanistan.

Instead, the document states only that he was convicted at "Guantanamo Bay, Cuba (Youth Court)." It makes no reference anywhere to the United States or the commission.

While it's not clear when the record was first created, Khadr's Canadian lawyers call it bizarre. For one thing, they note there's no such thing as a Guantanamo Bay youth court.

However, despite the document, the Canadian government argued strenuously for years against treating Khadr as a young offender — placing him, for example, in a series of maximum security adult prisons on his return to Canada in September 2012.

I voted for Stephen Harper in every election he participated in and would again. Not because I like him, but because I like his opponents even less. Harper did a lot of things that I disliked intensely and leaving this kid hang out to dry was one of them. 

His mother and sisters are radicalized and should never be trusted, but Omar certainly appears to me to be as honest and sincere a person as there is. How he became such a person after enduring so many years in Guantanamo is worth a closer look. I hope he writes is story.

Additionally, the lawyers say, the record appears to formalize the fact that Khadr was convicted as a youth for alleged crimes that occurred in a war zone, which would make him a child soldier — a label the government has also always avoided.

No youth court in Guantanamo

Dennis Edney, one of Khadr's lawyers, who was initially unaware of the document, expressed profound surprise at its contents.

"There's not such a being as a criminal youth court in Guantanamo," Edney said from Edmonton. "Why would you do that? Internationally, the place was condemned because it didn't distinguish between Omar being a child and Omar being an adult."

The Americans captured the horrifically wounded Khadr in the rubble of a bombed out compound in Afghanistan in July 2002 following a fierce firefight that left an American special forces soldier dead and another partly blinded.

In October 2010, the Canadian citizen pleaded guilty to five war crimes before a military commission at Guantanamo Bay, and was handed an eight-year sentence. The Toronto-born Khadr, who has long maintained the Americans tortured him during his lengthy captivity, later said he only pleaded guilty so he could return to Canada.

Omar Khadr is shown in a Guantanamo Bay interrogation room in this image taken from a 2003 surveillance video. (Handout/Canadian Press)

Edney said it's important people understand the context of the convictions — something sorely lacking in the official record.

"It shows absolute ignorance. It misstates itself in a very fundamental way," Edney said. "It shows no understanding of what Guantanamo is (and) demands an explanation as to why it is so described."

Concurrent sentences?

The RCMP document also erroneously states that Khadr was sentenced to five concurrent eight-year terms for each of his five charges. In fact, Canadian courts have ruled Khadr was handed a single eight-year sentence on all counts.

Co-counsel Nate Whitling, who also had not seen the document, called it unsurprising Khadr has a record in Canada given his transfer here to serve out his sentence. But Whitling still called it "weird." He noted there's no such thing as a concurrent sentence at Guantanamo Bay, and suggested Canadian authorities had "tried to fit a square peg into a round hole."

Khadr's lawyers say his conviction record should not enjoy legal recognition in Canada given that it has no reference to a legitimate court in a foreign country but arises out of military commissions that were set up to avoid U.S. constitutional scrutiny. Still, the criminal record could have an impact on Khadr, who hopes to study nursing, when he applies in the future for employment.

Barney Brucker, the Justice Department's lead lawyer on the Khadr file, did not respond to a request for information. Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale was not immediately available to comment on Monday.

Khadr was granted bail in Alberta in 2015 pending an ongoing appeal of his U.S. conviction — a process that will likely take several more years at least. The appeal rests on the fact that he was convicted for acts that were not crimes at the time he did them.