The brother of an attacker currently on trial for hacking Fusilier Lee Rigby to death on a Woolwich street this May justified the heinous slaying to Al-Jazeera and promised more such attacks are imminent.
Michael Adebolajo, 29, and Michael Adebowale, 22, both converts to Islam, were found guilty of the murder today after a gruesome trial in which Adebolajo told the court that his actions were necessary for jihad.
Jeremiah Adebolajo, 26, told Al-Jazeera that his brother’s actions were “inevitable” and completely justified.
“Is it justified for a Muslim to attack a member of an army that is occupying Muslim lands? This is something for the scholars and I think it’s obvious to most people,” he said. “The events to me were inevitable. There was eventually going to be another attack which mentioned foreign policy as its justification.”
The brother also specifically condoned the targeting of Rigby: “I would say, was Lee Rigby a violent individual? Are other British soldiers, who go to Afghanistan and Iraq and kill, violent individuals?”
“The point he’s trying to make is the fact that the geographical location of the battlefield, since this war on terror, has basically disappeared”, said Jeremiah, adding, “When we have people driving on roads in Afghanistan and targeted by drones, we have to ask ourselves the question, are these people soldiers? Is this a battlefield?”
The brother also blamed MI5 for “putting pressure” on his brother before the attack, surveillance sparked by his arrest in 2010 in Kenya for trying to cross the border into Somalia to join Al-Shabaab, adding the security services were “really disrupting his life.”
“I suggest that it won’t be the last [such attack], simply because of the tactics of the British secret service and foreign policy… for every violent action, is a violent reaction.”
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