Saturday, April 26, 2008

Follow the map

This Times (UK) article abides by the non-naming of terrorism suspect 'G' who was living under stringent sanctions which he and 4 other suspects successfully appealed to the High Court. So now he can spend money at Tesco without needing the permission of a civil servant.

The article also lays out plenty of information to allow people with too much time on their hands to figure out who 'G' or his fellow suspects are by perusing this UN Security Council list. In particular, only one British national with a non-custodial London address appears on the list, Mohammed Al Ghabra, although also appearing with London addresses are Hani Al-Sayyid Al-Sebai, Saad Rashed Mohammad Al-Faqih, and Khalid Abd Al-Rahman Hamd Al-Fawaz. So it's one of those situations where a newspaper can't name a person, but can lay out how anyone can figure out what the name is.

Incidentally, of Irish interest is the claim from the UN list that one al-Qaeda linked person, Shafiq Ben Mohamed Al-Ayadi, is living in Dublin, a fact which has allowed silly newspapers to engage in speculation about a Real IRA-al Qaeda alliance to launch an attack on the Queen during her March visit to Northern Ireland. Lizzie seems to have survived the plot just fine.

UPDATE 8 SEPTEMBER 2008: al Ghabra is now publicly named following the collapse of major portions of the Heathrow liquid bomb plot trial, although, strangely, only in connection with the dude who was acquitted of all charges.

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