Father of suspect has also received terror threats, say Somalis
THE father of the alleged jihadist being held on suspicion of murdering Sir David Amess, himself received death threats from Islamic terrorists, The Daily Telegraph can reveal.
Harbi Ali Kullane, a former director of communications for the prime minister’s office in Somalia’s Western-backed government, has been targeted by Islamic radicals. Somali government sources confirmed that while an official in the country’s administration, Mr Kullane received numerous death threats from al-shabaab, the terror movement that still controls parts of the country.
His son, Ali Harbi Ali, 25, was being to be questioned last night in connection with the frenzied knife attack on the Tory MP. It is being treated as a terrorist incident.
Mr Kullane, who moved to the UK from Mogadishu in the 1990s, is understood to have been targeted by the jihadists because he took a hard line against terrorism in east Africa.
“He was quite involved in countering al-shabaab’s message in his role as comms director and he received death threats from them for doing so, which is common for anyone involved in a high- profile position in the government,” one source said. “He despises terrorists so it would be hard to imagine how his son has become radicalised.”
Mr Kullane, who lives in Bounds Green, north London, was said to be “devastated” that his son had been arrested in connection with Sir David’s murder. Counter-terrorism detectives are understood to have spoken to him at length and have been examining his mobile phone records to check his son’s movements and monitor his behaviour before the attack.
Ali Harbi Ali was born in 1996 in Southwark, south London, after his parents moved to the UK from Somalia.
The eldest of four children, he grew up in Croydon where he was educated at a Church of England primary school.
Neighbours in the quiet street, where his mother and siblings still live, described the family as very ordinary and not particularly religious.
Ali’s parents separated when he was quite young and his father began to split his time between London and east Africa. He is thought to have homes in Mogadishu and Nairobi in Kenya.
One Croydon neighbour said: “The dad was here when we moved in but we haven’t seen him for a long time.”
The mother, described as a housewife by her neighbours, was said to be quiet and very respectable and wore a hijab only occasionally. Another neighbour expressed shock at the news that Ali had been arrested in connection with the murder, commenting: “They were not extremists at all. They were not that sort of people. I would say they were just like us.”
But as a schoolboy Ali was referred to the Government’s counter-extremism programme, Prevent, after concerns were raised about his increasingly radical behaviour.
However, he did not remain in the programme for long and the issues raised were never regarded as sufficiently serious to be flagged to MI5.
Neighbours said Ali worked for the NHS after leaving school. Relatives claimed last night he had studied for four years at University College London to become a doctor, according to The Sun newspaper.
Despite moving, it is thought, to north London in his late teens or early 20s to live with his father and aunt, Ali was a regular visitor to the family home. But neighbours said they had not seen any signs that he had been radicalised.
One said: “He dressed normally, just jeans and normal clothes.”
His father would regularly travel to east Africa but it is not clear whether Ali went with him.
Most recently Ali has been living in a local authority flat in Kentish Town close to the family home of Sir Keir Starmer, the Labour leader.
It is thought one of Ali’s female relatives rents it from the council.