A British policeman on Thursday became the first serving officer prosecuted for right-wing terrorism in the UK after he was unmasked by a leak of data from a neo-Nazi website.
The leak identified London police officer and avowed racist Ben Hannam, 22, as a member of banned right-wing group National Action.
A judge told Hannam that he faced a jail sentence after a jury found him guilty.
Police started an investigation after the data dump from extremist site Iron March in November 2019 that listed a number of subscribers around the world. They identified a user who went by the name of Anglisc as Hannam.
Hannam used the site to recruit for National Action, a group that celebrated violence and considered Adolf Hitler a divine figure. When police searched his home, they found a photo of Hannam wearing a police uniform and with a Hitler-style moustache superimposed on his face, Sky News reported.
The group was proscribed for promoting acts of terrorism after the murder of a British Member of Parliament, Jo Cox, by a right-wing extremist in June 2016.
The jury heard that Hannam attended a National Action meeting at a pub in central London, in March 2016, and a conference the following month., before the group was banned.
But he continued to attend events in 2017 including a boxing training camp – in apparent preparation for a race war. He was captured on mobile phone footage spraying extremist graffiti for a promotional video.
He applied to join the Metropolitan police, the country’s largest force, in July 2017. He submitted vetting forms in October but made no mention of his right-wing links.
The forms asked anyone to declare if they had been a member of the right-wing British National Party, or any similar group with racist ideologies.
A reference from his former university raised no concerns but the trial was told that teachers reported Hannam as being openly racist at his school.
Police said that any known involvement with National Action ended by October 2017, six months before he became a probationer in London’s main force.
He was a police officer for two years before he was arrested over his membership of National Action.
Police searches of his home uncovered a notebook in which he made references to National Action and drew a neo-Nazi logo.
They also found National Action business cards, books related to fascism and far-right wing ideologies, as well as a piece of paper with the password and user details for the Iron March forum. A memory stick contained documents including a guide on how to use knives in combat and an extremist manifesto compiled by Anders Breivik before he killed 77 people in a bomb and shooting attack in Norway.
“Once we identified that fact, we acted very swiftly and robustly to investigate the matter and put him before the courts,” Commander Richard Smith said.
Hannam was charged in 2020 with fraud, relating to false information on his vetting forms, and terrorist offences. He was suspended from the force after his arrest.
A review of work suggested there were no complaints about him for racism during his short and undistinguished career.
One of his former associates at National Action, Oskar Dunn-Koczorowski, was jailed in November 2018 for encouraging an attack on Prince Harry because of his marriage to a woman of mixed race.
How to apply for a drone permit
- Individuals must register on UAE Drone app or website using their UAE Pass
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What are the regulations?
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
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WHAT IS A BLACK HOLE?
1. Black holes are objects whose gravity is so strong not even light can escape their pull
2. They can be created when massive stars collapse under their own weight
3. Large black holes can also be formed when smaller ones collide and merge
4. The biggest black holes lurk at the centre of many galaxies, including our own
5. Astronomers believe that when the universe was very young, black holes affected how galaxies formed
PROFILE OF INVYGO
Started: 2018
Founders: Eslam Hussein and Pulkit Ganjoo
Based: Dubai
Sector: Transport
Size: 9 employees
Investment: $1,275,000
Investors: Class 5 Global, Equitrust, Gulf Islamic Investments, Kairos K50 and William Zeqiri
UAE players with central contracts
Rohan Mustafa, Ashfaq Ahmed, Chirag Suri, Rameez Shahzad, Shaiman Anwar, Adnan Mufti, Mohammed Usman, Ghulam Shabbir, Ahmed Raza, Qadeer Ahmed, Amir Hayat, Mohammed Naveed and Imran Haider.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
White hydrogen: Naturally occurring hydrogen
Chromite: Hard, metallic mineral containing iron oxide and chromium oxide
Ultramafic rocks: Dark-coloured rocks rich in magnesium or iron with very low silica content
Ophiolite: A section of the earth’s crust, which is oceanic in nature that has since been uplifted and exposed on land
Olivine: A commonly occurring magnesium iron silicate mineral that derives its name for its olive-green yellow-green colour
$1,000 award for 1,000 days on madrasa portal
Daily cash awards of $1,000 dollars will sweeten the Madrasa e-learning project by tempting more pupils to an education portal to deepen their understanding of math and sciences.
School children are required to watch an educational video each day and answer a question related to it. They then enter into a raffle draw for the $1,000 prize.
“We are targeting everyone who wants to learn. This will be $1,000 for 1,000 days so there will be a winner every day for 1,000 days,” said Sara Al Nuaimi, project manager of the Madrasa e-learning platform that was launched on Tuesday by the Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, to reach Arab pupils from kindergarten to grade 12 with educational videos.
“The objective of the Madrasa is to become the number one reference for all Arab students in the world. The 5,000 videos we have online is just the beginning, we have big ambitions. Today in the Arab world there are 50 million students. We want to reach everyone who is willing to learn.”
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The burning issue
The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE.
Read part four: an affection for classic cars lives on
Read part three: the age of the electric vehicle begins
Read part one: how cars came to the UAE
More on animal trafficking
New UK refugee system
- A new “core protection” for refugees moving from permanent to a more basic, temporary protection
- Shortened leave to remain - refugees will receive 30 months instead of five years
- A longer path to settlement with no indefinite settled status until a refugee has spent 20 years in Britain
- To encourage refugees to integrate the government will encourage them to out of the core protection route wherever possible.
- Under core protection there will be no automatic right to family reunion
- Refugees will have a reduced right to public funds
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League semi-final, second leg result:
Ajax 2-3 Tottenham
Tottenham advance on away goals rule after tie ends 3-3 on aggregate
Final: June 1, Madrid
Martin Sabbagh profile
Job: CEO JCDecaux Middle East
In the role: Since January 2015
Lives: In the UAE
Background: M&A, investment banking
Studied: Corporate finance
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