Portrait of an Assassin

"Assassination" and "assassin" are words you don't hear or read much any more. The word "assassin" is often believed to derive from the word hashshashin (Arabic: حشّاشين), and shares its etymological roots with "hashish", because the original Assassins were believed to do their assassinating when under the influence of that drug.

The Assassins were group of Nizari Ismailis -- Muslims -- who worked against various political targets. Founded by Hassan-i Sabbah, the Assassins were active in the fortress of Alamut in Persia from the 8th to the 14th centuries A.D., and later expanded into a de facto state -- like a caliphate -- by acquiring or building many scattered strongholds. According to Wikipedia, the Assassins killed members of the Abbasid, Seljuk, Fatimid, and Christian Crusader elite for "political and religious reasons."

"Political and religious reasons", eh. Hmm. A week ago, Sir David Amess, a devout Catholic Member of the British Parliament was murdered while holding a meet-and-greet for his constituents. Was he killed for political and religious reasons? 

For almost a week, British authorities, motivated no doubt by political correctness and the need to avoid stoking the fires of Islamophobia, identified Sir David's killer as just "a man". When a truth-teller averred that the "man" was actually a Somali "refugee", the party line changed to "a British national of Somali descent." Still no name, and no mention of the killer's religion or motivation.

Yesterday the Crown Prosecution Service finally identified the "man" as Ali Harbi Ali, a 25-year-old "British man with Somali heritage." According to AlJazeera, Mr Ali is the son of Harbi Ali Kullane, a former media adviser to a former prime minister of Somalia. How Mr Ali became "British" is a mystery. So is his religion. 

The spokesthingy for the CPS did say, though, that "We will submit to the court that this murder has a terrorist connection, namely that it had both religious and ideological motivations. He has also been charged with the preparation of terrorist acts."

"Religious and ideological motivations", eh. Such as? When Mr Ali made his first court appearance yesterday, the Crown Prosecutor told the court that Mr Ali considered himself affiliated with the Islamic State, and had settled on a plan to kill a lawmaker "years ago".

The police, however, were a little more circumspect. Inspector Knacker of the Yard told the meeja, "I understand the huge level of public interest in this case, but now a charge has been brought, it is vitally important that everyone exercises restraint when commenting on it publicly, to ensure future court proceedings are not prejudiced in any way."

Yes. We mustn't let Islamophobia cause us to jump to any conclusions, or to call Mr Ali any names, like "assassin".