Sulayman Balal Zainulabidin is dead. He is one of the converts to Islam I mentioned the other day, and his is an interesting story:

1. He was from Greenwich, south east London, was black, a chef (or kitchen assistant or kitchen porter) at the Royal College of Obstetricians, and was born 'Frank Etim' in Chelsea, central London. He converted to Islam in 1979.


2. His notoriety came from the fact that he advertised a training camp which was called the 'Ultimate Jihad Challenge'. This camp was to be held in the United States (to avoid restrictive British gun laws), and was supposed to train its students in various forms of combat to enable them to go on jihad. Needless to say, after September 11 this caught the attention of the British authorities. He was charged under the Prevention of Terrorism Act for: 1) providing instruction or training in the making or use of firearms, explosives, or chemical, biological or nuclear weapons; and 2) inviting others as yet unknown to receive instruction or training in the making or use of firearms, explosives, or chemical, biological or nuclear weapons. He was acquitted after a five-day trial. He claimed that his business was a bona fide commercial venture for training people such as security guards, the only person to have taken a course in the last two years was a security guard from Sainsbury's, and that it was not a terrorist operation. He also claimed that 'jihad' meant 'struggle', and not 'holy war'.


3. His camp was supposed to be held at a British-owned rifle range in Marion, Alabama, called 'Ground Zero USA'. The people who run that rifle range deny any connection with the 'Ultimate Jihad Challenge' (although Mark Yates, a former British Army officer who founded the range, and a man who seems to bill himself as a combination of Rambo and James Bond, admits that Zainulabidin attended three of his training classes in Wales in 1996, and that he had later, unspecified, contacts with Zainulabidin). The owners of Ground Zero USA claim that Zainulabidin had plagiarized their promotional materials and used them on his Web site. Oddly, the FBI had to expressly deny reports that it was investigating Ground Zero USA in connection with their investigation of the alleged Washington snipers, John Muhammad and John Malvo.


4. There are some reports linking Zainulabidin's company, Sakina Security Services, to James Ujaama, another of the 'converts' on my list. James Ujaama was originally held as a material witness with respect to a terrorist training camp supposedly established in Bly, Oregon (which appears to have been an almost comical operation). He was later indicted for conspiracy to support the al-Qaeda network and using, carrying, possessing and discharging firearms during a crime. The FBI alleges he delivered laptop computers to the Taliban at the behest of radical London imam Sheikh Abu Hamza al-Masri. Authorities claim that James Ujaama designed the Sakina Security Services website. It is an interesting coincidence that James Ujaama was allegedly associated with Semi Osman, a man who worked as an automobile mechanic in Tacoma, Washington and was a leader of a mosque in Seattle (the mosque founded by James Ujaama's brother, Mustafa Ujaama, another convert to Islam), while John Muhammad was a Muslim convert who had also been an automobile mechanic in Tacoma, Washington. (So the rather tenuous connection between John Muhammad and Ground Zero USA might be that John Muhammad might have known fellow Muslim and fellow Tacoma auto mechanic Semi Osman, who was allegedly associated with James Ujaama, who designed the website for Sakina Security Services, which was purporting to send people to Ground Zero USA training camp in Marion, Alabama, the residence of the person from whom the credit card was stolen that was supposed to be used for the $10 million ransom, and a place which isn't that far from Montgomery, Alabama, where Muhammad and Malvo allegedly committed a murder.)


5. Sakina Security Services goes back at least to 1999, when it, along with founder Muhammad Jameel, is mentioned in an article on Sheikh Abu Hamza al-Masri and radical Islam. There was no mention of Zainulabidin but Sakina Security Services is described as "training Muslims in self-defense and outdoor survival strategies and offering community-based personal security services." In June 2000, an article again mentions Muhammad Jameel and the fact he is linked with Sheikh Abu Hamza al-Masri. It even mentions the "two-week course in the US called the Ultimate Jihad Challenge," but does not mention Zainulabidin. Sakina Security Services is also described as "an international organisation funded by wealthy individuals" which ran at least one four month course at a military training camp in Kashmir. Eventually, Zainulabidin is described as having 'founded' Sakina Security Services (so who was the founder?).


6. In an article dated June 28, 2000 in The Hindu, the spokesman for Sakina Security Services calls himself Suleiman Bilal, which are the first two names of Zainulabidin. However, the article goes on to state:

   "Mr. Bilal, who according to other British newspapers also goes by the name of Mohammad Jameel, said he had 'never been to Kashmir in his life' and described press reports that he was recruiting for jihad as 'made up.' He however acknowledged that a group of young British Muslims, arrested in Yemen last year on charge of trying to overthrow the Government, had been trained by him. He however said he was not responsible for the actions of all those he trained."

   It is intriguing that the article also states that Suleiman Bilal "admitted he had been interviewed by the British security services, but said he had been allowed to continue with his training business. 'They wouldn't have done that if there was anything wrong,' he added." This means that in 2000, British 'security services' were aware of what Sakina Security Services was doing, but apparently didn't object. Mohammad Jameel was described as "a British-born Muslim linked with the leading fundamentalists Sheikh Omar Bakri Mohammed and Sheikh Abu Hamza al- Masri." Omar Bakri is quoted as saying: "I know Brother Jameel very well. He is extremely trustworthy and honest. As head of Al-Muhjiroun [meaning The Eyes, The Ears], I have overall responsibility for a number of organisations fighting for the Islamic cause. Sakina is one of those." From the same article, here is another exerpt:

   "Last year The Telegraph revealed how all three men were involved in special training courses for recruits in the South of England, Nottinghamshire and Scotland. Even then there was a suggestion that some recruits were being taught how to use guns. Last year they shared a platform at a public meeting in London. After more than 500 volunteers watched a video about training camps in Afghanistan, Jameel made a passionate appeal for volunteers and donations."
   
   Jameel is described as being 6ft 4in tall and claims to be trained in martial arts. In this article on the arrest of Zainulabidin, Zainulabidin is assumed to be a different person than Jameel. The question is answered in that the British authorities separately detained Jameel (note that this article says "British investigators say the training took place at rented shooting ranges in Michigan, Missouri and Virginia" but does not mention Alabama!). Zainulabidin was 44 and Jameel, at the time of his arrest in 2001, was 25. I wonder if the confusion in identities was intentional.



7. Zainulabidin came to the attention of the authorities when he attended at a police station looking for protection as he felt he was in some danger after a newspaper reported the concerns of Andrew Dismore, a Labour MP, who exposed Zainulabidin's company Sakina Security Services because its website advertised 'The Ultimate Jihad Challenge'. Here is a quote from Andrew Dismore in the British Parliament on October 16, 2001:

   "In an interview with the Arabic newspaper al-Sharq al-Aswat, Bakri Mohammed boasted that al-Muhajiroun sent Muslim youths on jihad training courses in Virginia, Michigan and the Missouri desert where they learned various techniques for guerrilla warfare, for making explosives and using shoulder-mounted missiles. He stated that between 300 and 400 people were sent on such courses each year, travelling as Europeans on British, French and German passports so that they did not need entry visas for the United States although most were of Asian or Arab origin. The training was organised by a British security firm that is managed by a Muhajiroun member. I believe that to be Sakina Security Services and the Muhajiroun member to be Mohammed Jameel."



8. Zainulabidin was admitted to hospital near Uxbridge for a routine operation on his knee. Within days of the minor surgery his health dramatically deteriorated and he slipped into a coma. He never came out of his coma and his hospital drug records went missing. The official explanation is that he died after being stricken by a powerful 'superbug', or drug-resistant bacteria. (As an aside, I can't help but note that noted conspiracy writer Jim Keith also died in the course of a 'routine' knee operation.)


9. His family alleged that he must have been murdered. They claim that they did not want an autopsy done for religious reasons, and he was buried without any post mortem examination to determine the cause of death. Can you imagine what would have happened had they gone to the police and claimed that he was murdered by his wife? Do you think in that case the police would have agreed to have no examination of the body to determine the cause of death? The police failure to insist on an autopsy is extremely suspicious to me, and looks like an official cover-up.


10. Some feel that Zainulabidin's murder is the first example of the 'new' (ha, ha!) CIA program of Israeli-style targeted assassinations. Given the fact that the hospital records were missing, and the enthusiasm of the local police to avoid an autopsy, this looks more like a local job than a CIA operation. The trial and its aftermath have been highly politicized, and Zainulabidin threatened to sue the authorities for his persecution. Is it possible that someone decided that for justice to be served Zainulabidin had to be murdered? Even after the trial, he may have been followed by British intelligence agents, who may have felt he continued to be up to no good.

It seems to me that there are two possible explanations for all this:

1. Zainulabidin was a kitchen assistant who attempted to make some extra money as a sort of jihad travel agent, getting a commission from Ground Zero USA for directing men there who were looking for a shooting holiday (rather than eco-tourism, this could be called terro-tourism). I find Yates' assertions that he had nothing to do with Zainulabidin's business rather implausible, as why would Zainulabidin use Ground Zero material unless he had some understanding with Ground Zero?. The fact that he continued to work in the kitchen with what must have been a painful arthritic knee (which became infected while he was in prison - he limped out of the courtroom after he was acquitted) probably means he was very unsuccessful at this business, and needed his regular job. The whole operation may have just consisted of the website (Sakina used the addresses of at least two other businesses without their knowledge). If the only customer was a security guard at a Sainsbury's store, I'd pay to see him use his jihad training when some guy tries to take nine items through the 'eight items or less' line.


2. Zainulabidin was running some sort of 'honeypot' for some police or intelligence organization, with the intention of obtaining the names of those interested in the training camp so they could be watched and investigated by British authorities. I only raise this possibility as there are simply too many problems with the Official Story as it stands. How is it that this operation and website have been operating for a number of years with only one customer in its last two years, as Zainulabidin apparently successfully convinced the jury? How is it that earlier articles on Sakina make it seem that it was sending many people to training camps in Afghanistan and Kashmir, not to mention the South of England, Nottinghamshire and Scotland, and not to mention Michigan, Missouri and Virginia? How is it that the case was so hyped up by the British authorities as they fought the war against terrorism, but Zainulabidin appeared to get off so easily, almost as if the prosecution didn't try to mount a proper case? What are the various roles of Zainulabidin and Mohammad Jameel (remember that Jameel has been associated with prominent Islamic fundamentalist religious leaders Sheikh Omar Bakri Mohammed and Sheikh Abu Hamza al-Masri, and at least Hamza al-Masri has been linked to bin Laden)? Why, in 2000, did the British 'security services' not object to what Sakina was doing, including training people who were later arrested on charges of trying to overthrow the government of Yemen? Why was Zainulabidin arrested after he went to the police to complain that his safety might be in question due to a newspaper article written about him? Might this whole trial have been a sham to polish up the fundamentalist reputation of Zainulabidin? If so, could he have been murdered by Islamic fundamentalists who found out they'd been had? Did he really have a job at the the Royal College of Obstetricians with his gimpy knee, or was that part of his cover? What was he doing associating with colorful character, intelligence expert, and former Army officer Yates, and what were the nature of the undescribed 'contacts' that Yates had with him? Isn't the concept of an 'Ultimate Jihad Challenge' somewhat blasphemous from the point of view of strict fundamentalists? Was his threat to sue over the trial part of the creation of his image? After he was acquitted, why was he being followed? If he was who he said he was, a harmless kitchen worker, who would want to kill him? What happened to his hospital records? Why no autopsy?