British Muslim woman convicted of penning poems about beheadings

[cali]

By ARTHUR MARTIN

Last updated at 08:30am on 9th November 2007



An airport worker who wrote poems about beheadings is the first woman to be found guilty under new terror laws.


Samina Malik, who liked to call herself a "lyrical terrorist", called for attacks on the West and described "poisoned bullets" capable of killing an entire street in her poetry.

The 23-year-old Muslim wrote of her desire to become a martyr and listed her favourite videos as the "beheading ones".

Lyrical terrorist Samina Malik claims she was just a 'fan' of the terrorist music


Described as a "committed Islamic extremist", Malik, a shop assistant at Heathrow, hoarded an extensive collection of terrorism manuals, the Old Bailey heard.

She was a member of an extremist group linked to Omar Bakri Mohammed, a hate preacher who fled to Lebanon from Britain two years ago.

<snip>

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=492460&in_page_id=1770&in_page_id=1770&expand=true#StartComments

The headline seems misleading; she wasn't convicted for her writings (sample at the link). Still, I'm not sure what to think.

[wtmusic]

1. The comments from DM readers below are equally disturbing

Ready to burn at the stake a woman who, as far as we know, has harmed no one.

Sometimes free speech is a bitch.

[cali]

3. Didn't read the comments

I'm sure they're as you describe, but she wasn't convicted of writing poems, despite the headline, but of aiding a terrorist organization. As I said, I don't know what to think, but btw, I do find her "poetry" utterly disgusting. It's orgasmic over murder.

[wtmusic]

5. Actually the conviction was for "possessing documents

likely to be used for terrorism."

Without rendering any judgement whatsoever on her poetry, laws like this are wonderful springboards for abuse. With that and unlimited surveillance, dissent need never be a problem!

[The Stranger]

17. Laws like that are void and unenforceable under the Bill of Rights.

Guess merry ol' England doesn't have the same Constitutional protections.

[Marrah_G]

2. She sounds like she needs a really good shrink

Or perhaps she should live in a country more suited to her ideal view of life.

Extremists suck. Homicidal-suicidal extremists suck even more. People who get off on watching real live beheadings of innocent people are seriously fucked up in the head. Put it all together and what more could you ask for a warning sign.

[NightWatcher]

4. "extremist library" do any of you guys have what "they" would call extremist?

It was in the UK, but I see this type of thing starting to happen here before long.

[moggie]

6. Standard disclaimer applies

The Daily Mail is not a credible source:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=389&topic_id=2174684

[cali]

7. True enough; it a piece of crap

but the story is true.


From The Guardian:

A young Heathrow worker who wrote poems about beheading non-believers yesterday became the first woman to be convicted under new anti-terror laws.
Samina Malik, a 23-year-old Muslim from Southall, west London, who worked airside at a branch of WH Smith, burst into tears in the dock at the Old Bailey when the jury returned their verdict.

By a majority of 10 to one they found Malik, who called herself the "lyrical terrorist", guilty under the Terrorism Act 2000 of possessing records likely to be useful in terrorism.

Poems discovered at her home included two entitled How to Behead and The Living Martyrs. Malik, the jury was told, had written on the back of a receipt from the shop: "The desire within me increases every day to go for martyrdom."

Jonathan Sharp, prosecuting, said: "She is a committed Islamic extremist who supports terrorism and terrorists. She had a library of material that she had collected for terrorist purposes. That collection would be extremely useful for someone planning terrorist activity."

<snip>

http://www.guardian.co.uk/terrorism/story/0,,2208008,00.html

But you have a point; I should have used The Guardian, or The Telegraph or one of the dozens of other sources.

[msongs]

8. funny how she writes this stuff living in the UK instead of choosing an Islamic nation to live nt

[WinkyDink]

19. Funny, but a democracy isn't supposed to begrudge free expression, or refer to it snidely.

[Beerboy]

9. It seems like an exercise in irony. n/t.

[High Plains]

10. Did she actually DO anything? Otherwise, it looks like thought crime.

[cali]

11. It doesn't seem she did anything other than possession

of materials deemed illegal in the U.K. And that's a disturbing thought.

[Clintonista2]

14. Do you think it should be a crime to own infant pornography?

Or is that not really DOING anything? :eyes:

[WinkyDink]

20. Free expression is not a crime. Child pornography is.

[Clintonista2]

21. As the OP said, the title was misleading. She wasn't convicted for writing the poems

She was convicted for possessing terrorist training manuals. Before you say "well..well.. she's not ACTUALLY a terrorist!" Keep in mind that people who possess child porn aren't actually out sexually molesting children. People who possess material like this SHOULD be arrested.

[wtmusic]

27. Possession of kiddie porn is one of the very few laws

which is a punishment for having information. Not for having pictures, but pictures of something.

As reprehensible as most find these materials, it doesn't take a wild imagination to see the problems with making this legal leap without caution. We are inferring that having these materials will cause a person to act on them -- but yet we don't ban video games, in which participants engage in far more violent crimes.

IMO freedom of information is nearly always beneficial, with very few exceptions (like detailed plans on how to make a nuclear weapon). The truth will set us free.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

22. The stories from the newspapers are rather muddled.

It appears that she was actually charged for the bomb-making manuals and similar, not the poetry.

[NorthernSpy]

12. OMG : "heads are going to roll"

I don't like like the idea of any kind of speech code. But some of this stuff DOES sound kind of like a threat:

The power-mad freaks who are
Ruling the earth
Will show how little they think you're worth
With animal lust they'll
Devour your life
And slice your word to bits like a knife
One last day burning hell fire
You're blown away
If the man with the power
Cant keep it under control

Know what its like
When you're taken for granted
There goes your life
Its so underhanded
If the man with the power
Cant keep it under control

Some heads are going to roll

Not good. I, for one, wouldn't want to see this stuff get a foothold in Britain.


:scared:

[provis99]

13. Pretty vague lyrics you posted there. Looks like a Steve Earle song

[cali]

26. umm. how about this:

How to Behead

It's not as messy or as hard
as some may think
It's all about the flow
of the wrist
Sharpen the knife to its maximum
Tilt the fool's head to its left
Saw the knife back and forth
No doubt the fool will twitch and scream
But the ignore the donkey's ass

etc, etc. Not comfortable with the British laws

but her poetry indicates she's a screaming psychopath.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

16. She wasn't charged with writing the poetry.

She was charged with possession of various bomb-making and terrorist manuals.

[NorthernSpy]

24. but the poetry helped proved intent, didn't it?

Would someone who was reading similar manuals out of mere curiosity have faced such charges?

Probably not.

[treestar]

15. Literature could always be ironic

or symbolic or metaphorical.

Don't the authorities have better things to do, like try to find people actually planning harm? Granted she could be, but if so, they'd mention the harder evidence. It sounds like she is a nutcase, but the authorities need to be able to distinguish a nutcase from someone actually planning an operation (who won't be so obvious publicly while doing so). This stuff makes it look like they are getting distracted - check her out, sure, but if she's just writing poetry and she's 23 and she's in England, she's probably not seriously a terrorist and will grow out of whatever it is. What other obvious way to shock others? If she were American in the late 60s she'd be shocking her society by wearing long hair and bell bottoms and smoking pot.

[Clintonista2]

25. Consider the example I gave above:

People who possess child pornography aren't actually MOLESTING children, right? So does that mean we shouln't take action against them?

[WinkyDink]

18. Okay, I'm all for prosecuting terrorists. But FREE SPEECH, anyone? What will crime-fiction writers

do now?

Imagine if this had been applied here, in the 60's, against, say, Malcolm X.

[Clintonista2]

23. Except that she wasn't arresting for "free speech", as the OP said, the title is misleading

She was arrested for possessing terrorist training manuals. I have no problem with the action taken against her.