Graffiti in support of the London Bridge terrorist Usman Khan appears in hometown
Disgusting hate graffiti in support of London Bridge terrorist stabber Usman Khan has appeared on a house in Stoke-on-Trent.
“Usman Khan Call 4 Justice” was sprayed on the front of a boarded up house in Cobridge, alongside the tag “COB”, thought to be attributed locally to a gang known as the Cobridge Boys.
Armed with two knives and wearing a fake suicide vest, Khan went on a rampage on November 29, killing two and injuring three.
Cambridge University graduate Merrit, 25, was stabbed to death alongside fellow Cambridge alumni Saskia Jones, 23, in the attack, which led to a national outpouring of grief.
Khan, who was living in Stafford, was given permission to travel into the heart of London by police and the Probation Service. He launched the fatal attack at the Learning Together event, the two victims were attending, just before 2pm.
He was tackled by members of the public, including ex-offenders from the conference, before he was shot dead by police.
Families in the area have now condemned the graffiti, adding it is not an isolated incident, report Stoke-on-Trent Live.
Asifa Umar, aged 45, of Rushton Road, said: “Somebody put the same graffiti on my wall as well last week calling for justice and I had to wash it off.
“It’s shocking that somebody would put that but I think it’s a couple of kids doing it, I doubt it’s adults. Children have been writing on the walls in the street.
“I don’t think they’re in support of what he did, they’re doing it without thinking about what they’re saying.
“I don’t think anybody with a brain has done it, it’s just children who have heard something and wrote it down.
“It’s just vandalism and hopefully it will be sorted.”
Floriah Baicu, aged 50, of Rushton Road, told the website “It’s wrong to be in support of what Usman Khan has done.
“It’s shocking to see the graffiti. It’s a problem that somebody has done that.”
Rafma Bib, aged 36, of Rushton Road, also added: “It’s shocking, I don’t know who has done it and I didn’t see anybody do it. I don’t know why they did it on that property as I don’t think it’s related to Usman Khan.”
Another resident said: “It’s not good, you wouldn’t expect anybody to show support for what Usman Khan did.
“As far as I’m aware that property doesn’t have any connection to him. It makes everybody feel uneasy. You don’t have to be from around here to feel uneasy about it. I hope it’s removed.”
Khan is thought to be one of six children, five brothers and a sister, raised by their taxi driver father Taj and his wife Parveen.
The family grew up in Cobridge where one of his siblings still lives.
Khan – who also went by the name of Abu Saif back then – became radicalised in Stoke-on-Trent and was part of a group of young Muslim activists f who manned a stall in Waterloo Road near where the graffiti was found where they handed out leaflets.
Following the terror attack at London’s Fishmongers’ Hall, a number of properties in Staffordshire have been raided and searched by police , including addresses in Etruria, Cobridge and Stafford.
His body was secretly flown back to his family’s ancestral village of Kajlani in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
Last week, Khan’s relatives issued a statement denouncing his attack and expressing condolences to the victims’ families.
It read: “We are saddened and shocked by what Usman has done. We totally condemn his actions and we wish to express our condolences to the families of the victims that have died and wish a speedy recovery to all of the injured.
“We would like to request privacy for our family at this difficult time.”
Mohammed Pervez, leader of Stoke’s Labour Party group in the area, told the Sunday Times : “I condemn their actions.
“The graffiti will be offensive to the family of Usman Khan and to the wider community.”
Convicted of terror offences in February 2012, Khan was released from prison on licence in December 2018, halfway through his 16-year prison sentence.
He was arrested with two others from Stoke-on-Trent as part of a nine-member Al Qaeda plot to blow up the London Stock Exchange and plans to set up a terrorist training factory on land owned by Khan’s family in PoK.
He and his co-conspirators were found guilty of terror offences following a trial.
Khan was initially given an indeterminate jail sentence, which was later reduced to 16 years on appeal.
It meant he was freed in December last year after serving half his sentence after he managed to fool the authorities into believing he was de-radicalised.
Source: Daily Star
