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| Britain | ||
| Terrorist defends man accused of trying to kill prison officers | ||
| 2011-11-04 | ||
A Muslim terrorist, sentenced to life over a plot to behead a British soldier, has defended a man accused of trying to kill prison officers with a broken pepper sauce bottle.
The 24-year-old, now serving a sentence for three murders, denies the charges and is being tried by a jury. Thakrar, who is said to suffer from PTSD as a result of his inprisonment, claims he struck out at the Frankland guards because he feared they were about to attack or kill him. He told jurors he had experienced racism at the hands of prison officers at Frankland. Khan was called to court as a defense witness yesterday, where he supported Thakrar's claims of racism by prison guards. Dressed in a long black smock, the terrorist gave his evidence flanked by three prison guards. He told jurors, "I personally suffered from racism at Frankland, from officers. I thought it was systemic, however, there were officers I felt were very fair and very helpful, but they were few and far between." During the cross examination, Khan refused to discuss the reason why he is in prison. Gittins asked him, "Your plan, with five others, was to kidnap and behead a Muslim British soldier?" Khan replied, "I have come here today to speak about the situation at Frankland, not to discuss about my case." Gittins said Khan had been convicted of possessing manuals on how to raise a "holy war" and suggested his aim was to "bring down western democracy and the British state." Gittins asked Khan if he was unhappy over being kept in a prison regime by those he opposes and if he would do "anything in his power" to undermine that regime. Khan said he was not unhappy, but gave no comment to the suggestion he was trying to undermine the system. He reposnded to most questions by saying, "I am a Muslim political prisoner." | ||
| Posted by:ryuge |