Coincidence. posted by Richard Seymour

It would be uncanny if intelligence had not penetrated al-Muhajiroun when it was still formally in existence. Annie Machon's book about the David Shayler revelations discusses in detail how she and David - both former intelligence ops, and now partners - helped run programmes that spied on left-wing organisations: anarchist groups, the SWP and so on. It seems they had a mole in almost every branch of the SWP, and listed anyone who attended its meetings as a Trotskyist activist. It would simply be incredible if Muslim organisations, from the mainstream to the fringes, were not penetrated in a similar fashion.

Here's the World Socialist Website:

There is a wealth of evidence to suggest that Britain’s security services sheltered Hamza for many years and even worked with him. How long this relationship was maintained is uncertain. However, there is a record of meetings between Hamza and the police and secret services at least until 2000.

Additionally, there are reports that his organisation, Al-Muhajiroun, and Finsbury Park mosque, where he preached, were heavily infiltrated by agents and informers. Some allege that the state placed its agents at the very top of Al-Muhajiroun.

Media commentators have suggested that Hamza was allowed considerable free rein because the Finsbury Park mosque became a centre of terrorist activity, and this enabled MI5 and MI6 to keep track of what was happening. Even if this is all that was involved, it would be necessary to ask how much was known by Britain of planned terrorist atrocities—the July 7 bombings in London, in particular—and whether they were allowed to go ahead by the security services.

Heresy, eh? Anyway, it seems obvious to me that this 'al-Ghuraaba' that supposedly emerged from the ashes of the old Al-Muhajiroun, and which protested outside the Danish Embassy with signs Glorifying Terrorism, is probably penetrated to the hilt: possibly by the guy who wrote all those signs in the same hand. So, it's clearly a total coincidence that this demonstration occurred a week before parliament voted for a law outlawing the Glorification of Terrorism. That's just common sense. Any other possibility should be met with gales of laughter, uncontrollable hysterics, snickering, wise-ass remarks, and the evocation of nutty internet Conspiracy Theorists, keyboard nerds rallying troops behind the latest zany idea...