3 diesel bombers convicted, and Jewel of Medina to be published in October
Three men upset about a perceived slight to their dead hero have been found guilty of recklessly damaging property and endangering life.
Three stooges: Beheshti, Mirza and Taj, the diesel bombers (arranged in order of increasing head size)
Ali Beheshti, 41, Abrar Mirza, 23, and Abbas Taj, 31, conspired to firebomb the house of publisher Martin Rynja. Rynja’s Gibson Square Books had been planning to publish The Jewel of Medina, which is a semi-fictional account of the inventor of Islam’s relationship with his child bride, Aisha.
We all know how distressing it is when people don’t treat your long-dead warrior-prophet with suitable deference, so it is understandable that the trio decided to punish the publisher by pouring diesel through his letter box and trying to set fire to it.
Fortunately – and perhaps unsurprisingly – the three weren’t in possession of the cleverest heads ever to butt a rug, and had been under police surveillance for days. Taj, the driver, tried to plead not guilty, claiming that he had just given his mates a lift without any idea of what they were up to. The jury were not convinced.
On the way to the publisher’s home, Beheshti, a former member of the banned al-Muhajiroun, rallied the spirits of his fellows with the inspiring words,
You know what we gotta do, anyway, innit?
An old hand in the art of holy war, Beheshti had been involved in the Motoon protests in 2006 when he burned himself attempting to set fire to a picture of George Bush. This may explain why they decided to use diesel in the Gibson Square operation – they might have hurt themselves if they had used petrol.
According to this BBC video report, The Jewel of Medina will be published in October. Doh!
UPDATE: (18 May) Unfortunately, the BBC report above is contradicted by the author herself, Sherry Jones, on her blog.
Beaufort publisher Eric Kampmann and associate publisher Margot Atwell headed to the London Book Fair in April with a full display of “The Jewel of Medina†and confidence that they would find the right distributor to supply stores in the U.K. with the book. But — no. Everyone, it seems, is too afraid.
(Hat tip: The New Humanist)
There are several internet sites with instructions – some fully illustrated – on the art of making water bombs. If only these nincompoops had looked there first they could have saved themselves and everyone else a lot of trouble, and had a great deal of fun at the same time!! Assalamualaikum my friends (“Up Yours” in Inglaisi!).
I could have told them that in a liquid state diesel is not particularly flammable as it has a relatively high flash point. In a diesel engine the fuel is injected as a very fine mist, if the injectors get worn the fuel is not atomised properly and the resulting black smoke from the exhaust is due to some of the fuel not getting burned.
They don’t look like the three sharpest knives in the cutlery drawer do they?
@Stonyground, That was the point of my comment, Stonyground, and I think also of the appellation “The Three Stooges”, who were a well-known comedy act at one time!! Petrodiesel only ignites under pressure, but in their desire not to set fire to themselves (as on the previous occasion!), they managed to choose a nice, safe “combustible material” which would not, in fact, combust (double doh!!). As I said, water bombs would not only have been safer all round, but provided much entertainment at the same time!!!