LONDON (AFP) - Two London brothers released without charge after being arrested in a massive anti-terrorist raid in which one of them was shot has said their only crime was being Muslim.
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Mohammed Abdul Kahar, 23, who is recovering from a bullet wound to the chest, and 20-year-old Abul Koyair demanded an apology from police who ordered and carried out the dawn swoop on their east London home on June 2.
Speaking publically for the first time about their ordeal, Kahar told reporters Tuesday: "The only crime I have done in their eyes is being Asian and with a long length of beard."
London's Metropolitan Police and its chief Ian Blair have come under fire for mounting such a large-scale but ultimately fruitless raid.
Officers spent a week scouring the brothers' house in Forest Gate, reportedly looking for some kind of chemical weapon, but found nothing to support their suspicions.
Describing the raid at a press conference with his brother, Kahar said he was woken by his younger brother's screams and got out of bed to investigate the intrusion.
"I assumed a robbery was happening," he said, recalling how he edged down the stairs before suddenly seeing a spark and hearing a big bang.
"I fell on the wall. I was on the floor, I looked at my chest and I saw bleeding coming down my chest and I saw the hole in my chest. At that moment I knew I was shot."
The elder brother said that as he lay on the stairs, bleeding and fearing for his family, he was kicked in the face by a police officer and told to "shut the fuck up".
He said he was then grabbed and dragged down the stairs and thrown on the pavement outside.
It was only then he realised the men raiding his house were police.
Kahar's shooting, which now is under investigation, has stirred memories of the police killing of a Brazilian man who was wrongly identified as a suicide bomber on the London subway last July.
Asked about the future of Blair, the Metropolitan Police commissioner, the brothers stopped short of calling for him to resign.
Koyair said: "Whoever is responsible should be put to justice, whoever gave the order for this to happen."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/2006061...eLy3f.OnwNvaA8F;_ylu=X3oDMTA0cDJlYmhvBHNlYwM-
I guess people forget about the Brazilian man that was shot and killed and how they tried to bribe the family to shut them up. I guess it's okay to shoot them even if they are innocent if they don't look white.
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Mohammed Abdul Kahar, 23, who is recovering from a bullet wound to the chest, and 20-year-old Abul Koyair demanded an apology from police who ordered and carried out the dawn swoop on their east London home on June 2.
Speaking publically for the first time about their ordeal, Kahar told reporters Tuesday: "The only crime I have done in their eyes is being Asian and with a long length of beard."
London's Metropolitan Police and its chief Ian Blair have come under fire for mounting such a large-scale but ultimately fruitless raid.
Officers spent a week scouring the brothers' house in Forest Gate, reportedly looking for some kind of chemical weapon, but found nothing to support their suspicions.
Describing the raid at a press conference with his brother, Kahar said he was woken by his younger brother's screams and got out of bed to investigate the intrusion.
"I assumed a robbery was happening," he said, recalling how he edged down the stairs before suddenly seeing a spark and hearing a big bang.
"I fell on the wall. I was on the floor, I looked at my chest and I saw bleeding coming down my chest and I saw the hole in my chest. At that moment I knew I was shot."
The elder brother said that as he lay on the stairs, bleeding and fearing for his family, he was kicked in the face by a police officer and told to "shut the fuck up".
He said he was then grabbed and dragged down the stairs and thrown on the pavement outside.
It was only then he realised the men raiding his house were police.
Kahar's shooting, which now is under investigation, has stirred memories of the police killing of a Brazilian man who was wrongly identified as a suicide bomber on the London subway last July.
Asked about the future of Blair, the Metropolitan Police commissioner, the brothers stopped short of calling for him to resign.
Koyair said: "Whoever is responsible should be put to justice, whoever gave the order for this to happen."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/2006061...eLy3f.OnwNvaA8F;_ylu=X3oDMTA0cDJlYmhvBHNlYwM-
I guess people forget about the Brazilian man that was shot and killed and how they tried to bribe the family to shut them up. I guess it's okay to shoot them even if they are innocent if they don't look white.