UK sentences man who killed MP to life in prison

The UK justice sentenced the person responsible for the murder of parliamentarian David Amess to life imprisonment, in a decision handed down this Wednesday (13). The politician, a supporter of Prime Minister Boris Johnson, was stabbed to death last October in an Essex church amid a meeting with supporters.

Ali Harbi Ali, 26, a British citizen of Somali descent, was found guilty of the murder and terrorist plots on Monday (11). The jury took less than half an hour to reach the verdict, according to which Ali also planned attacks against other lawmakers, including fellow conservative Michael Gove.

During the trial, prosecutors in the case described Ali as a “fanatical and radical Islamic terrorist”. Investigations showed that he frequently consumed content from the Islamic State (IS) group and that he planned lone wolf attacks — when the attack is organized by individuals with no hierarchical relationship with terrorist organizations, even if they share extremist ideologies.

Assistant Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, Matt Jukes, described him, in a statement after the sentencing, as a “cold, calculating and dangerous individual”. “David’s murder was an attack on democracy, and we will never allow terrorists to prevail.”

Ali said he did not regret or be ashamed of what he did. “If I thought I did something wrong, I wouldn’t have done it,” she said at the trial. The court was told by prosecutors that he planned to die a martyr, as he believed he would be shot by police.

Prosecutor Tom Little, citing accounts from witnesses, including Amess aides, said the Briton, as he stabbed the MP, said: “I want everyone in Parliament who supported the bombing of Syria and the Iraq war to die.”

London judge Nigel Sweeney said the murder had several aggravating factors, including the fact that it was done to advance a cause, provoke fear among parliamentarians, was premeditated and planned, as well as the fact that Amess was attacked while exercising his public functions with voters.

A devout Catholic, Amess was married and the father of four daughters and one son. He was first elected to Parliament to represent the City of Basildon in 1983 and then ran for the Southend West district in 1997. On his website, he listed “animal welfare and pro-life issues” among his top interests. known for being one of the most dedicated lawmakers to anti-abortion activism in the country.

In a statement after the sentencing, the politician’s family said they were unable to celebrate the decision. “Our amazing husband and father was taken from us in a violent and terrible way, nothing will make up for it; we will never get over this tragedy,” family members said.

The case has heightened public pressure for greater security for members of the British Parliament. Five years before this episode, in 2016, MP Jo Cox, a Labor, was murdered at age 41 by a far-right ultranationalist in the run-up to the referendum in which the British would vote for Brexit, the United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union. (HUH).

It also raised the alarm for the intensification of violent episodes involving firearms or sharp objects in the region. The latest figures available from the National Institute of Statistics show that, in the year ended March 2021, 224 homicides were recorded with sharp instruments, such as knives or broken bottles.

In the same period, around 41,000 crimes with these objects were observed by the police in England and Wales, a number that represents a 15.3% decrease compared to the previous period – which can be explained by a decrease in crime. during the most severe period of the coronavirus pandemic. In relation to 2010/11, however, the rate of incidents involving knives grew by 27.4%.