Stabbing of Stephen Timms

Last updated

Stabbing of Stephen Timms
Stephen Timms portrait.jpg
Stephen Timms
Date14 May 2010 (2010-05-14)
LocationBeckton Globe Library, Beckton, East London, England
Motive Islamic extremism
Non-fatal injuriesStephen Timms
ConvictedRoshonara Choudhry

On 14 May 2010, Stephen Timms, the Labour MP for East Ham, was stabbed whilst holding a constituency surgery by Roshonara Choudhry, a 21-year-old British student and an Islamic extremist, in an attempt to kill him. She was found guilty of attempted murder and jailed for life with a minimum term of 15 years. Choudhry was the first Al-Qaeda sympathiser to attempt an assassination in Britain. [1]

Contents

Choudhry stated that she had been influenced by online sermons of Anwar al-Awlaki, the leader of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. [2] Following her trial, such material was removed from YouTube. [3]

Background

Choudhry was born to a Bangladeshi family in Newham, East London, and lived in East Ham. She was the eldest child and attended Plashet School in East Ham, later studying for her A-levels at Newham Sixth Form College. [4] She had been in the final year of a degree in English and communications at King's College London, [2] [5] [6] but had dropped out shortly before the attempt on Timms' life. [5] In a police interview, she stated that she had left because she found the university to be anti-Islamic, since they had given an award to the Israeli politician and statesman Shimon Peres, in addition to running counter-radicalisation programmes. [7]

Choudhry was inspired to attack Timms by the online lectures of Anwar al-Awlaki. [8]

Attack

On 14 May 2010, Timms was approached by Choudhry, during his constituency surgery at the Beckton Globe Library in Kingsford Way, Beckton, East London. [9] [10] She acted as though she were going to shake his hand, and then stabbed him twice in his abdomen with a 6-inch kitchen knife, before she was disarmed. [11]

She made "very full admissions" to the police, saying that she had been influenced by dozens of hours of sermons that she had watched of Anwar al-Awlaki, a leader of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. She said her attack was to punish Timms for voting for the Iraq War, and as revenge for the Iraqi people. [12] [13]

Timms suffered "potentially life-threatening" wounds: lacerations to the left lobe of his liver, and a perforation to his stomach. A senior police officer said he "was extremely fortunate not to have been killed". [14] He underwent emergency surgery at the Royal London Hospital, from which he was discharged on 19 May. [15]

Trial

Choudhry chose not to attend her trial for attempted murder at the Old Bailey, saying she did not recognise the court's jurisdiction. [16] The prosecutor ruled out any suggestion that she suffered from a mental illness. [17] On 2 November, Choudhry was found guilty of Timms' attempted murder. She was subsequently given a life sentence, with a recommendation that she serve a minimum jail term of 15 years. [14] After the sentence was announced in court, a group of men in the public gallery began shouting "Allahu akbar" and "British go to hell." A small demonstration took place outside the court. [18]

Aftermath

After the court case, Timms said he was not bitter, but that forgiveness was not possible until his attacker showed remorse. He was seeking the banning of incendiary material on popular internet sites "to protect other vulnerable young people from going down the same road." [19]

The Revolution Muslim website described Choudhry as a heroine for stabbing Timms, posted a prayer to destroy the "enemies of Islam", naming Timms, and responded to her conviction for attacking Timms by publishing a list of MPs who had voted in favour of the Iraq War, as Timms had, giving advice on how to find details of their constituency surgeries. [20] [21]

Choudhry is incarcerated at HM Prison Bronzefield in Ashford, Surrey. [22] As a Category A prisoner, Choudhry must be strip-searched before and after being visited. For religious reasons, she opposes this, and instead chooses to remain in solitary confinement. [5]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stephen Timms</span> British Labour politician

Sir Stephen Creswell Timms is a British Labour Party politician who has been Member of Parliament (MP) for East Ham, formerly Newham North East, since 1994. He has served as Minister of State for Social Security and Disability since July 2024.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Newham Sixth Form College</span> Sixth form college in Plaistow, Greater London, England

Newham Sixth Form College (NewVIc) is a sixth form college located in the East London borough of Newham. Situated on a single site in Plaistow, the college was established in 1992 to provide for students in Newham and neighbouring boroughs who opt to stay in education beyond GCSE O-levels. It is designed for students ages 16 to 19 and its curriculum includes A-levels as well as specialist pathway, levels 2 and 3 vocational, foundation level and ESOL programmes. There are currently about 2,500 students at the college.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anwar al-Awlaki</span> American-Yemeni imam and suspected Islamist extremist (1971–2011)

Anwar Nasser Abdulla al-Awlaki was an American-Yemeni lecturer and alleged jihadist who was killed in 2011 in Yemen by a U.S. government drone strike ordered by President Barack Obama. Al-Awlaki became the first U.S. citizen to be targeted and killed by a drone strike from the U.S. government. U.S. government officials have claimed that al-Awlaki was a key organizer for the Islamist militant group al-Qaeda.

Plashet School is a prestigious secondary girls school in East Ham, London with approximately 1,350 students. It was previously a grammar school. In 2009 Ofsted highlighted Plashet as one of 12 outstanding schools serving disadvantaged communities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ibrahim al-Asiri</span> 21st-century member of al-Qaeda

Ibrahim Hassan Tali al-Asiri was a citizen of Saudi Arabia suspected of being chief bomb-maker of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. He was reported to have been responsible for making the bombs used by his brother Abdullah al-Asiri in his suicide bombing, the 2009 Christmas Day bomb plot, the 2010 cargo plane bomb plot, and the May 8th 2012 Terror Plot.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab</span> Nigerian attempted bomber incarcerated in a US federal prison

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab popularly referred to as the "Underwear Bomber" or "Christmas Bomber", is a Nigerian terrorist who, at the age of 23, attempted to detonate plastic explosives hidden in his underwear while on board Northwest Airlines Flight 253, en route from Amsterdam to Detroit, Michigan, U.S. on 25 December 2009.

Anwar al-Awlaki was an American-Yemeni cleric killed in late 2011, who was identified in 2009 by the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) as a known, important "senior recruiter for al Qaeda", and a spiritual motivator.

<i>Inspire</i> (magazine) Online Jihadist magazine published by Al-Qaeda

Inspire is an English-language online magazine published by the organization al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). The magazine is one of the many ways AQAP uses the Internet to reach its audience. Numerous international and domestic extremists motivated by radical interpretations of Islam have been influenced by the magazine and, in some cases, used its bomb-making instructions in their attempts to carry out attacks. The magazine is an important brand-building tool, not just of AQAP, but of all al-Qaeda branches, franchises and affiliates.

On October 29, 2010, two packages, each containing a bomb consisting of 300 to 400 grams (11–14 oz) of plastic explosives and a detonating mechanism, were found on separate cargo planes. The bombs were discovered as a result of intelligence received from Saudi Arabia's security chief. They were in transport from Yemen to the United States and were discovered at stopover locations: one at East Midlands Airport in the UK and one in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.

Events from 2010 in England

Sir Jeremy Lionel Cooke, styled The Hon. Mr Justice Cooke, is a former judge in the Queen's Bench in the High Court starting from 2001 and was presiding judge for the South Eastern Circuit from 2007 to 2011, and judge in charge of the Commercial Court from 2012 to his retirement in 2016.

Azad Ali is a British Muslim activist and a spokesman for the Islamic Forum of Europe. He was founding chair of the Muslim Safety Forum, is Vice-Chair of Unite Against Fascism (UAF), and former director of engagement at Muslim Engagement and Development (MEND). He has also been employed as an IT worker and civil servant for the Treasury.

The 2014 Alon Shvut stabbing attack occurred on 10 November 2014, when Palestinian Maher al-Hashlamun first attempted to run his vehicle into a crowd waiting at the bus/hitch-hiking station at the entrance to the Israeli settlement of Alon Shvut, in the Gush Etzion section of the occupied West Bank, then, when the car was stopped by a bollard, got out and attacked with a knife, killing a young woman and wounding two others. The attack occurred four hours after the killing of Sergeant Almog Shiloni in Tel Aviv and took place at the same bus/hitch-hiking stop where three Israeli teenagers were kidnapped and murdered in June 2014.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jo Cox</span> British politician (1974–2016)

Helen Joanne Cox was a British politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Batley and Spen from May 2015 until her murder in June 2016. She was a member of the Labour Party.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Usman Khan (terrorist)</span> Pakistani-British Terrorist

Usman Khan, also known as Abu Saif, was a Pakistani-British Islamic terrorist and murderer who on 29 November 2019 murdered 2 people and wounded 3 others during an attack near London Bridge before being fatally shot by City of London Police after being subdued by civilians.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2020 Streatham stabbing</span> Stabbing attack in Streatham, London

On 2 February 2020, two people were stabbed in Streatham, London in what police termed a terrorist incident. The attacker, Sudesh Amman, was shot dead by the police. A nearby woman was slightly injured by broken glass as a result. At the time Amman was under active counter-terrorism surveillance, after having recently being released from prison on licence; he had been convicted in 2018 for disseminating terrorist material. Following the attack, the British government introduced the Terrorist Offenders Bill, a piece of emergency legislation intended to prevent those convicted of terrorist offences from being released early from prison; this bill was approved by Parliament and came into force by the end of the month.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2020 Reading stabbings</span> Stabbing attack in Reading, England

On 20 June 2020, shortly before 19:00 BST, a man with a knife attacked people who were socialising in Forbury Gardens, Reading, Berkshire, United Kingdom. Three men died from their wounds, and three other people were seriously injured. Khairi Saadallah, a 25-year-old Libyan male refugee, was arrested shortly afterwards. He was charged with three counts of murder and three counts of attempted murder; he pleaded guilty. In January 2021, Saadallah was sentenced to a whole-life term.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Murder of David Amess</span> 2021 killing of a UK member of parliament

On 15 October 2021, Sir David Amess, a British Conservative Party politician and Member of Parliament for Southend West, was fatally stabbed at a constituency surgery at Belfairs Methodist Church Hall in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex. His killer was Ali Harbi Ali, a British Islamic State sympathiser, who was arrested at the scene. In April 2022, Ali was convicted of murder and the preparation of terrorist acts, and sentenced to life imprisonment with a whole life order.

References

  1. ↑ Gardham, Duncan; Rayner, Gordon; Bingham, John (2 November 2010). "White House 'must shut down hate videos on YouTube'". The Daily Telegraph . London.
  2. 1 2 Rayner, Gordon; Bingham, John (2 November 2010). "Stephen Timms stabbing: how internet sermons turned quiet student into fanatic". The Daily Telegraph. London.
  3. ↑ O'Dell, Jolie (4 November 2010). "After UK Stabbing, YouTube Removes Extremist Videos From Site". Mashable .
  4. ↑ Dodd, Vikram; correspondent, crime (2 November 2010). "Profile: Roshonara Choudhry". The Guardian . ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 16 June 2023.{{cite news}}: |last2= has generic name (help)
  5. 1 2 3 Dodd, Vikram (2 November 2010). "Profile: Roshonara Choudhry". The Guardian. London.
  6. ↑ "Woman jailed for life for attack on MP Stephen Timms". BBC News. 3 November 2010.
  7. ↑ Hasan, Mehdi (4 November 2010). "Some observations on the stabber of Stephen Timms". New Statesman . Retrieved 23 February 2014.
  8. ↑ Hegghammer, T.; Nesser, P. (2015). "Assessing the Islamic State's Commitment to Attacking the West". Perspectives on Terrorism. 9 (4). Terrorism Research Initiative & Center for Terrorism and Security Studies. ISSN   2334-3745 . Retrieved 7 June 2017.
  9. ↑ "Woman charged with attempted murder of Labour MP" . The Times. 15 May 2010. Retrieved 11 November 2010.[ dead link ]
  10. ↑ "Former minister Timms stabbed". BBC News. 14 May 2010. Retrieved 14 May 2010.
  11. ↑ Hughes, Mark (15 May 2010). "Woman, 21, arrested over stabbing of Labour MP" . The Independent. Archived from the original on 24 May 2022. Retrieved 16 June 2016.
  12. ↑ Burns, John F.; Helft, Miguel (4 November 2010). "YouTube Withdraws Cleric's Videos". The New York Times .
  13. ↑ "Al-Qaeda leader's tour of Britain 'radicalised a generation of young Muslims'". Oneindia News. 6 November 2010. Retrieved 8 November 2010.
  14. 1 2 "Woman jailed for life for attack on MP Stephen Timms". BBC News. 3 November 2010. Retrieved 4 November 2010.
  15. ↑ "MP Stephen Timms discharged from London hospital". BBC News. 19 May 2010. Retrieved 16 June 2016.
  16. ↑ "Woman appears in court over stabbing of Labour MP". The Daily Telegraph. 17 May 2010. Retrieved 16 June 2016.
  17. ↑ "Woman stabbed MP 'in revenge for Iraq war vote". The Daily Telegraph. 1 November 2010. Retrieved 16 June 2016.
  18. ↑ Dodd, Vikram; Topping, Alexandra (3 November 2010). "Roshonara Choudhry jailed for life over MP attack". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 5 September 2019.
  19. ↑ "Stephen Timms: 'I don't feel bitter but I'm not ready to forgive my knife attacker'". London Evening Standard. 4 November 2010. Retrieved 25 November 2015.
  20. ↑ Gardham, Duncan (10 November 2010). "Arrest over website that encouraged Muslim to attack MPs". The Daily Telegraph. London, UK. Retrieved 12 November 2010.
  21. ↑ Gardham, Duncan (4 November 2010). "Website used by woman who stabbed MP encourages further attacks". The Daily Telegraph. London, UK. Retrieved 12 November 2010.
  22. ↑ "Muslim student gets 15 years in jail for trying to murder MP Stephen". Evening Standard. 3 November 2010.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.