Mohammed Hamid

Mohammed Hamid (born 1957 in Tanzania) is a British citizen and Islamist extremist convicted of training the perpetrators of the attempted bombings in London on 21 July 2005. His parents and relatives were engaged in the clothing trade in Batley, West Yorkshire. In 1960, Hamid was sent to live with his elder brother in Hackney, London. He eventually started to rise the ranks and assemble his own terrorist cell.

21 July 2005 London bombing attempt

On Thursday 21 July 2005, four men attempted to bomb parts of London's transportation system, but were unsuccessful. The attempted bombings occurred around midday at the Shepherd's Bush, Warren Street and Oval stations in the London Underground rapid transit system. There was also an attempt to explode a bomb on a bus in Bethnal Green. The bombs failed to explode, and no one was injured (other than one person having an asthma attack). The attempted bombers fled the scenes after their devices failed to explode, and the police operated a manhunt to find them, and shot and killed one innocent man after misidentifying him as a suspected bomber. The four attackers, Muktar Ibrahim, 27, Yassin Omar, 22, Ramzi Mohammed, 24, and Hussain Osman, 26, were arrested about a week after the bombing attempt and were found guilty of conspiracy to murder. They were each sentenced to life imprisonment, with a minimum of 40 years' imprisonment. The court ruled that there was evidence that Mohammed Hamid had a relationship with the four attempted bombers and did in fact train them. On 26 February 2008 Hamid was found guilty on three counts of providing terrorist training and three counts of soliciting murder. Mohammed Hamid was sentenced indefinitely with a minimum of seven and a half years for the protection of the public.

Controversy There has been controversy over the imprisonment of Mohammed Hamid. Some claim that Mohammed Hamid is one of the many victims of Britain's war on terror who has been sent to prison mainly for their Islamic religion. There has been debate that there has not been sufficient evidence to prove that camping and practicing paintball was enough to convict Hamid of training terrorists. Furthermore, the counts of drug abuse had little to no evidence. When asked about his act of reaching out to many young Muslims, Hamid claimed that he was trying to offer support to Muslims because they were vulnerable after the 9/11 attack. Along with other supporters, Mohammed's daughter Yasmin has launched a campaign to demand freedom for her father. She and the supporters claim that Mohammed Hamid had no relations with the London 21/7 attack and claimed Mohammed had been wrongly imprisoned. Mousa Brown had been accused and charged under the 2006 terrorism act for providing terrorist training and receiving terrorist training. The reason for these charges was for his involvement in the sport of paint balling at the locations where Mohammed trained. Later his charges were dropped but there have been claims that Mohammed Hamid was wrongly accused and imprisoned for his Muslim background and has become a victim of prejudice against Muslims.