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| Police 'torment' Forest Gate man | |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| One of the men shot during a terror raid in Forest Gate has told MPs he has been "tormented" by armed police. | |
| Mohammed Abdulkahar said he "feared for his life" after recently being stopped by armed officers near his home who, he says, threatened to shoot him. | |
| Mr Abdulkahar was shot in the shoulder at his east London home in June 2006. He and his brother Abul Koyair were later released without charge. | Mr Abdulkahar was shot in the shoulder at his east London home in June 2006. He and his brother Abul Koyair were later released without charge. |
| The two men were giving evidence to the Commons Home Affairs select committee. | |
| Mr Abdulkahar said he was on his moped at the time of the recent incident. | |
| "About seven armed officers pulled us over at the top of our road, we were manhandled to the floor, we were handcuffed without getting arrested. I have no trust in them. I have no faith in them. | |
| If I wasn't strong, I could have turned against this country Mohammed Abdulkahar | |
| "[Metropolitan Police Commissioner] Sir Ian Blair has to recognise he is putting my life at risk. | |
| "Every time I walk the street I fear for my life. I don't fear from the criminals, I fear from the police." | |
| 'Shoot him' | |
| Asked if he thought he had been deliberately targeted by police, Mr Abdulkahar said: "The armed officers clearly knew who I was and who my brother was. | |
| "They were even making jokes, saying 'how much money did you get in compensation? How many millions did you get of our overtime money?'" | |
| He said he had "independent witnesses that witnessed the officers shouting, saying 'shoot him, shoot him'". | |
| He said he had not made an official complaint because he "had no faith in the system". | |
| Mr Abdulkahar acknowledged the police had a "difficult job" and that there was a terrorist threat in the UK, but he said: "You cannot go on putting innocent people's lives at risk and their families." | |
| 'Risk' | |
| During the evidence session he also told MPs he initially thought he was the victim of an armed robbery when officers burst into his home in June 2006 and shot him. | |
| He said his experiences had led him to conclude that "every Muslim is at risk" from the police. | |
| But he said he was "happy in a way that it happened to me, if it happened to anyone" as it could have led a weaker person to become radicalised. | |
| "If I wasn't strong, I could have turned against this country," Mr Abdulkahar told MPs. | |
| He said he would be willing to meet Sir Ian Blair to discuss how to combat extremism but only if he received a personal apology from the Metropolitan Police chief. | |
| 'Accidental discharge' | |
| Police were hunting for a suspected chemical device when they raided the Forest Gate house. | |
| Nothing was found and Scotland Yard later said it regretted the incident and that an "accidental discharge" caused injury in the raid. | |
| The Independent Police Complaints Commission said in a report it was "satisfied there is no evidence of intent or recklessness on the part of the firearms officer and that no offence was committed in the firing of the weapon". | |
| It concluded the gun, which had its safety catch off as the officer entered the house, had been fired by accident. |