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Friend who claimed Woolwich suspect was 'offered MI5 job' is linked to banned Islamist group
- Abu Nusaybah claimed that MI5 tried to recruit suspect Michael Adebolajo
- But his real name is Ibrahim Hassan a former member of Al-Muhajiroun
- The group was banned in 2005 after radicalising a wave of British Muslims
- As he was interviewed, Police arrived to arrest Hassan
- it has been alleged that this was to stop him making claims about MI5
By Robert Verkaik And Abul Taher
PUBLISHED:16:55 EST, 25 May 2013| UPDATED:07:23 EST, 26 May 2013
The childhood friend of one of the Woolwich suspects who was dramatically arrested at the BBC has disguised his identity and is linked to a banned extremist group, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.
During an interview for Newsnight at New Broadcasting House in central London on Friday night Abu Nusaybah sensationally claimed that MI5 had tried to recruit suspect Michael Adebolajo.
But The Mail on Sunday can reveal that Abu Nusaybah’s real name is Ibrahim Hassan, 31, a former prominent member of Al-Muhajiroun, the group banned in 2005 after radicalising a wave of British Muslims including Adebolajo.
Islamist group: Ibrahaim Hassan, far right, pictured with Anjem Choudary and convert Richard Dart
As BBC reporter Richard Watson interviewed Hassan, five detectives from the Metropolitan Police counter terrorism command arrived at the studio’s glass door.
After challenging the officers, a receptionist entered the studio and announced: ‘I’m sorry but they want to arrest someone.
Last night, an unnamed friend of Hassan, who was present during the Newsnight interview, claimed the police intervention was intended to stop Hassan making claims about MI5’s alleged involvement with Adebolajo.
Abu Nusaybah told BBC's Newsnight that MI5 had been trying to recruit Woolwich suspect Michael Adebolajo
He said: ‘As we were wrapping up we saw policemen standing by the glass door. I looked at Richard and he wasn’t his normal self. His face was red and he looked stressed. I heard the receptionist asking the police what they were doing and then she came in.’
The arrest came just hours after Hassan had used Twitter, under the name Abu Nusaybah, to accuse MI5 of trying to recruit Adebolajo as an agent six months ago.
The unnamed friend said the BBC had read the tweets and contacted Hassan, who lives in Walthamstow, East London, to arrange an interview.
Three hours later, police officers arrived at the BBC to make the arrest.
Questions are now being asked about whether there was an attempt to stop the interview going out and silence Hassan.
Civil rights experts said the timing of the arrest was particularly worrying. Professor Anthony Glees, director of Centre for Security and Intelligence Studies, said: ‘This arrest is very disturbing. How did the police know he would be at the BBC? Who told them?
‘It looks like MI5 wanted information that the BBC had. But it’s not for the BBC to do MI5’s investigating.
‘There should be a full inquiry and someone needs to get a grip of it.’
Describing the events in detail the friend said: ‘The BBC sent a car for us at 7.45pm near my house in East London. At 8.15 we arrived at the BBC and met Richard (Watson) in reception.
‘We talked with Richard about the interview and what questions he would ask because we wanted it pre-planned so we knew what questions were asked. We then went to a side studio (near the reception) where the interview took place with Watson.’
Rant: A man identified as Michael Adebolajo, 28, brandishes a meat cleaver with bloodied hands near the scene of the killing. It was claimed last night that MI5 offered Adebolajo a job six months ago
Suspect: Michael Adebowale, 22, of Greenwich, south-east London, with a knife in his hand at the scene where Lee Rigby was stabbed to death
Suspect: The friend of Michael Adebolajo said he thought he had undergone a 'change' following his detention by security forces on a trip to Kenya last year. Adebolajo, right, is pictured at an English Defence League march in 2009
He described how officers made the arrest an hour before the interview was broadcast.
‘It was very shocking. One of them asked me for his (Nusaybah’s) phone which I had with me.
‘I refused but they said if I didn’t give it to them they would arrest me and take everything. Then they ushered him out of the back of the building.
‘When the programme was broadcast the BBC had edited a lot of it and it didn’t include lots of claims he made, particularly that MI5 had known that he was being tortured in Kenya.
‘We were disappointed that the BBC had edited the programme like that so that full story didn’t come out.’
Last night, police sources denied that the arrest was connected in any way to the Newsnight broadcast or that they had attempted to stop the interview going out.
Fallen hero: Father Lee Rigby, 25, from Manchester, was described as 'cheeky and humorous' in tributes. He was executed by two suspected Islamic terrorists in Woolwich on Wednesday afternoon
A great character: Father of one and soldier Rigby, of Greater Manchester, pictured relaxing on Army leave
A BBC spokesman said: ‘This interviewee had important background information that sheds light on this horrific event.
‘When we discovered it we had a duty to share it with our viewers. And when we asked him to appear and interviewed him, we were not aware he was wanted for questioning by the police.
‘He was arrested immediately on BBC premises after he left the interview.’
Hassan, who has three children and claims benefits, said that he has known Adebolajo since 2003.
He told The Mail on Sunday: ‘I first converted to Islam, and then he converted about six months later.
‘It was me who invited him to Islam, and then he turned to Islam. We went to Islamic talks all over East London.’
Hassan said that he and Adebolajo used to attend talks given by the firebrand preacher Omar Bakri Muhammad, who has been banned from re-entering the UK after he went to Lebanon for holiday in 2005.
Bakri founded the extremist group Al-Muhajiroun in the mid-90s. It was banned first banned in 2005 by Tony Blair after the 7/7 attacks and then again in 2010.
Hassan said that Bakri was a major influence on Adebolajo at the time.
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