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The Birmingham council candidate who was jailed for terrorism

New Statesman·Felix Pope·about 1 month ago
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Photo by Emma Trimble / SWNS It was a wet, blustery day in Birmingham and Shahid Butt was on the street broadcasting to TikTok. “‘So many hate comments, brave keyboard warriors’,” he said, looking at his phone, which was standing on a tripod outside a pizza shop. “I know, bro. What can I say? I mean, you know, we’re here. We’re live. I’m standing here. Come and say it to my face instead of giving me the big one on the old keypad.”  Butt, who is a tall, broad man, had been forced to bend a little to look into the camera. He was wearing sandy chinos, a white shirt and a blue worker jacket, the anonymous uniform of the modern office. He has creamy white veneers and a dark, wrinkled spot at the top of his forehead, a zabiba, formed by the lifelong impression of skull to prayer mat. He drives a Mercedes and manages twoHMOs.  He was also once convicted for terrorism, jailed in Yemen in 1999 for plotting to blow up the British consulate, an Anglican church and a hotel on Christmas Day.…

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