Three slain victims of Rudakubana

The incident had Britons protesting in the streets against the government’s unchecked migration policies, knowing that the only residents who routinely commit knife crimes are Muslims. Then the really “big news” came out: all those protesting and rioting English “bigots” had foolishly assumed that the murderer, 17-year-old “Axel” Muganwa Rudakubana, was a Muslim terrorist, though he clearly was not.

His name was not Muslim, the authorities and their media mouthpieces assured us; and his parents had migrated to England from a Christian nation, Rwanda. Here is a typical report showcasing how smugly the media denounced “the false information spread by far-right groups” (emphasis added): UK authorities have revealed the identity of the suspect of a stabbing attack that killed three young girls and wounded several other children, confirming that the identity used by Islamophobic groups to fuel the anti-Muslim riots was fake.

The suspect was named on Thursday as 17-year-old Axel Rudakubana, born in the UK to Rwandan parents. Local media reported the suspect comes from a family “heavily involved with the local church.” But the false information spread by far-right groups led to anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant riots even as mobs also clashed with police outside a mosque, the first of several violent riots across the country.

By the time a judge said the teen suspect could be identified, rumours were already rife and far-right influencers had pinned the blame on immigrants and Muslims. Both Possible and Highly Likely Despite what the media and politicians were saying, a week after the murders I laid out in a Stream article all the reasons why it was very plausible — and not at all “Islamophobic” — to believe Rudakubana was born a Muslim or had converted to Islam.

Relevant excerpts follow: First, as it happens, many Muslims have launched similar attacks, randomly stabbing native Europeans. … On Nov. 23, 2023, a Muslim man of Algerian origin, with a known criminal record, also knifed a group of preschool children attending Saint Mary’s, a Catholic school in Dublin. Three children — two girls and a boy, all five or six years old — and a care assistant who tried to defend them were stabbed in the assault.

Knifed near the heart, another five-year-old girl was hospitalized in critical condition…. Second, Rudakubana could be a convert to Islam. Many non-Muslims, including of European origin, have converted to Islam and then engaged in terrorism. Moreover, as a young black migrant in the UK, where cultural and ethnic polarization has become pronounced, Rudakubana would most likely have gravitated to and adopted the ways and worldview of other black and brown migrants; and a great many of these are Muslim in the UK.

Third, when it comes to the names of sub-Saharan African Muslims, these are often indigenous and not what you might expect them to be — Muhammad, Ahmed, and the like…. The two African men who slaughtered and used a cleaver to behead Lee Rigby, a British soldier, in the streets of London in 2013 were named Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale. Both were converts to Islam…

But perhaps the greatest indicator that Muganwa Rudakubana may have been a Muslim is that the British authorities who are saying he is not Muslim have lost all credibility. Their word is absolutely worthless. And now, according to a new report published on October 29: The suspect charged with the murder of three girls in Southport is to be separately prosecuted on suspicion of possessing terrorist material and producing the highly toxic poison ricin, police have said.

Axel Rudakubana, 18, will appear at Westminster magistrates court on Wednesday charged with producing the biological toxin ricin and having a document titled “Military studies in the Jihad against the Tyrants – the Al-Qaida training manual.” More Grounds Than a Coffeepot Now what was this confused and/or disgruntled “Christian” kid doing with jihadist, al-Qaeda material?

The answer has already been given above: If he wasn’t already a Muslim (with a non-recognizably Muslim name), he was a convert; and, as many converts to Islam are wont to do, he wanted to prove his bona fides by slaughtering infidels. Of course, this new revelation has not stopped the authorities from pretending that Rudakubana’s murder of three little girls still has nothing to do with Islam — or that his “rights” need to be carefully preserved. In the words of Serena Kennedy, the chief constable of Merseyside police:

At this time, Counter Terrorism Policing has not declared the attack on Monday 29 July a terrorist incident. I recognise that the new charges may lead to speculation. The matter for which Axel Rudakubana has been charged with under the Terrorism Act does not require motive to be established. For a matter to be declared a terrorist incident, motivation would need to be established.

Apparently hate for infidels, or the Koran’s calls to slaughter infidels “wherever you find them” (9:5), or ISIS’s constant urgings for Muslims to randomly stab and kill non-Muslims in Europe are not enough grounds for “motivation.” Continues Kennedy: I would strongly advise everyone to avoid speculation about the motivation in this case. The criminal proceedings against Axel Rudakubana are live and he has a right to a fair trial.

It is extremely important that there is no reporting, commentary, or sharing of information online that could prejudice these procedures… Don’t engage in rumour speculation. Don’t believe everything you read…

Raymond Ibrahim, author of Defenders of the West and Sword and Scimitar, is the Distinguished Senior Shillman Fellow at the Gatestone Institute and the Judith Rosen Friedman Fellow at the Middle East Forum.