Plenty of British muslim accusations of "police state," on this, not so much.
Five men arrested in Britain in connection with an alleged plot to kidnap and behead a Muslim soldier in an 'Iraq-style' video execution have been charged with terrorism offences, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said Friday.
But only one of the suspects, named as Parviz Khan, 36, was charged specifically with plotting to kill a member of the British armed forces, Sue Hemming of the counter-terrorism division of the CPS told a news conference.
The other four men, aged between 31 and 43, were charged with various offences under the Terrorism Act. All are believed to be British-born Muslims of Pakistani origin.
Khan is accused of 'engaging in conduct to give effect to his intention to kidnap and kill a member of the British armed forces' between November 1 last year and the time of his arrest on January 31, 2007.
Three of the altogether nine men who were arrested in dawn raids in Birmingham, in the British Midlands, on January 31 have been released without charge, while another man remains in custody.
THIS is what the muslim community is in a later about, not the fact that credible terror threat was in their midst
The four men charged along with Khan were named as Mohammed Irfan, 30, Zahoor Iqbal, 29, Hamid Elasmar, 43, and Amjad Mahmood, 31.
They were due to appear before magistrates in London later Friday. Press reports said last week that the men were being held for planning to abduct a Muslim British soldier in Britain while on home leave from duty in Afghanistan and post his execution on the internet.
The intention behind the plot was to have been to put pressure on the British government to withdraw troops from Iraq and Afghanistan.
so much for living in a democratic country, where the civilized use information and political campaigns to influence the government
The attack had been imminent, the reports suggested.
West Midlands police chief David Shaw said Friday that 4,500 items, including computers and mobile phones, had been confiscated during the search of 18 premises in Birmingham.
Shaw, clearly aware of the unease the arrests have caused among Birmingham's large Muslim community, stressed Friday that the investigating authorities had received 'fantastic support' from the local community.
he had to say that. even if it is true, where are the media reports, then?
He blamed speculative media reporting for the 'damage' that had been done to relations between ethnic groups in the city.
But one of the three men freed, Abu Bakr, said police investigators had never explained to the men why they were held and there had been 'no mention' of a kidnap plot involving a soldier.
Bakr,who worked in an Islamist bookshop in Birmingham where he is also studying for a PhD in Political Islam, said the arrest would affect him 'for the rest of my life.'
isn't ALL islam political these days?
His charge that Britain was a 'police state for Muslims' was rejected as 'categorically wrong' by the British government Thursday, which said that if the allegation was true, Bakr would not have been released or allowed to make his remarks on BBC television.
Meanwhile in London, police were holding radical Muslim Abu Izzadeen on suspicion of 'encouraging terrorism.'
The 31-year-old Jamaican who converted to Islam in 1994 is held in connection with a speech he gave in Birmingham last summer.
However, police stressed that his arrest in London Thursday was not connected with the case in Birmingham. 
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