Murder Of Innocence

‘HAD Hussain Osman’s bomb detonated, and had he blown himself to bits on a Tube train in London’s Shepherd’s Bush, we’d probably have only ever seen the complete man on Al-Jazeera TV.

Remember the victims

But his bomb did not explode. And now we get to see the Ethiopian alive and intact, and leaving Rome airport for a flight to Britain, where he faces terror charges of conspiracy to commit murder, attempted murder and explosive offences.

Of course, Osman, also known as Hamdi Isaac, intended no such thing. He’s an innocent. Rather then being the kind of person who plots to kill and maim, his actions were meant as a protest. As he told his Italian lawyer, Antonietta Sonnessa, it was all a “demonstrative gesture”.

If that’s right, we can surely expect Osman to enjoy his days in court. After all, the eyes of the world will be on him; this is his chance to explain all. We are, however, just a little confused that offered this wonderful chance to grandstand, Osman chose to fight his extradition to the UK. Or was this also a demonstrative gesture?

While the law deals with him, the Sun takes a look at Jermaine Lindsay, whose demonstrative gesture on July 7 killed 26 people on a Piccadilly Line Tube train.

And conducts an interview with Lindsay’s wife, one Samantha Lewthwaite, who is pictured on the paper’s front page cradling the couple’s new-born daughter.

A convert to Islam, like her husband, Lewthwaite, who was eight months pregnant when Lindsay struck, says she “totally abhorred” his murderous mission.

“With hindsight he was clearly preparing himself for the suicide bombing and was saying goodbye,” says she.

But hindsight is a wonderful thing. And at the time, she didn’t think much of his odd behaviour. “Why would I?” asks she. “I’d sent him off to sort his head out. I didn’t think the very next morning he would be blowing up a train.”

Indeed. Lindsay’s erratic behaviour caused her to suspect he was having an affair. He was no killer. He was a “naive and simple man”, says she.

So what changed him from loving dad – the couple already had a young son – and husband to mass murderer? “He was a peace-loving person who would harm nobody,” says Lewthwaite.

So what went wrong? She says his mind was altered when he visited mosques in Luton, London and up North and met and became involved with a group of men. “How these people could have turned him and poisoned his mind is dreadful,” says Lewthwaite. His mind was “twisted”.

But it’s really no great mystery. As Lewthwaite has already said, her husband was simple and naïve – the ideal person to brainwash into committing mass murder in the name of a warped ideology…’

Posted: 23rd, September 2005 | In: Tabloids Comment | TrackBack | Permalink