Life Under Surveillance
Majid Salim | 03.05.2005 15:20 | Indymedia | Birmingham | London
My name is Majid Salim, and I live in Birmingham, in the UK. Last year, in May 2004 the UK national media offered me the opportunity to become a celebrity figure. They kept me under surveillance for a number of weeks in May. I didn't take that opportunity and they left in early June. However they returned a week later and kept me under very aggressive surveillance for the rest of the summer, which included following me around in car and on foot, taking photographs of me on the street, intercepting my emails and mobile phone calls, and keeping me under electronic surveillance in my car and home. I had threats from men with dogs and snooker cues for a period of time. This surveillance became increasingly aggressive, and the longer it carried on the less sense it seemed to make, as they wouldn’t talk to me, in spite of my asking them to.
My name is Majid Salim and I would like to tell you about I book I have written about my experiences with the national media last year. After leaving a job the national media expressed an interest in meeting me and making me a celebrity. I was kept under overt surveillance by them, and my flat in Kings Heath was bugged. Presenters on Radio Five Live had asides for me when I was listening. Dead
Ringers did a sketch about me and I was discussed on Have I Got News For You - all without my name being mentioned. Around this time I was offered the job of manager of Chelsea Football Club by Roman Abramovich, which I know sounds extraordinary. In early June I contacted the Sun and Guardian, but by that time Jose Mourinho had been appointed and neither paper expressed an interest in talking
to me. By this time the media, who had thoroughly researched my life, told me via oblique headlines
and asides on the radio (my new flat in Stirchley was bugged) that I was an original thinker with an
extraordinary intellect that had to be put to good use, and that this was one of the reasons why I was offered the job of Chelsea manager by Roman Abramovic.
After this I got at job at West Midlands Police. The national media sent a representative to meet me at a bus stop near the Birmingham Arcadian and asked me to get back in touch with them. I asked Max Clifford Associates to represent me, and I believe I was on the verge of becoming a celebrity figure with them. I understand from what I have learned that my projected earnings were £50 million, and I was even offered a trip into space on Space Ship One. In spite of this, something fell through, and Max Clifford Associates were never in a position to get back in touch with me.
At this time I was told by my best friend that my life was under threat from people in the national media and elsewhere who disliked me, and I faced real death threats. I believe I may have been under discrete police protection.
I asked Guy Chapman Associates to represent me, and spent the rest of the summer under very aggessive media surveillance. At one point I was put under so much psychological stress by the surveillance that I was under that I snapped and fled the country. I was refused admission to the United States and spent an evening at an airport hotel in Shannon, Ireland, where representatives of the media, who I imagine were angry at my having left, drove past my window miming slitting their throats with their fingernails. I was so concerned and upset by this that I faxed the Guardian newspaper from my hotel, offering them the opportunity to talk about me, but they were not in a position to do so.
In spite of being under tight, aggressive media surveillance, I never once met a journalist or PR
consultant, despite calling and/or emailing media outlets several times. In August I moved back in with my parents. I called a press conference for myself to meet the media and discuss what happened to me on 6th September 2004, at the MAC in Cannon Hill Park. Although representatives of the national media attended, I believe it was just to take my photograph, and none of them spoke with me.
I have attempted to contact the national media before, to try and talk to them about what happened to me, and maybe ask them about whether I am still kept under routine surveillance. I have especially wanted to talk to them about the stress of having been followed around and what they knew of the death threats I received, but to date no one media outlet has been in a position to get back in touch. I never once saw my name in print, nor my image in the papers, nor have I once met a PR consultant or journalist face to face. My book can be purchased from here:
http://www.lulu.com/content/122205
Yours Sincerely
Majid Salim
Ringers did a sketch about me and I was discussed on Have I Got News For You - all without my name being mentioned. Around this time I was offered the job of manager of Chelsea Football Club by Roman Abramovich, which I know sounds extraordinary. In early June I contacted the Sun and Guardian, but by that time Jose Mourinho had been appointed and neither paper expressed an interest in talking
to me. By this time the media, who had thoroughly researched my life, told me via oblique headlines
and asides on the radio (my new flat in Stirchley was bugged) that I was an original thinker with an
extraordinary intellect that had to be put to good use, and that this was one of the reasons why I was offered the job of Chelsea manager by Roman Abramovic.
After this I got at job at West Midlands Police. The national media sent a representative to meet me at a bus stop near the Birmingham Arcadian and asked me to get back in touch with them. I asked Max Clifford Associates to represent me, and I believe I was on the verge of becoming a celebrity figure with them. I understand from what I have learned that my projected earnings were £50 million, and I was even offered a trip into space on Space Ship One. In spite of this, something fell through, and Max Clifford Associates were never in a position to get back in touch with me.
At this time I was told by my best friend that my life was under threat from people in the national media and elsewhere who disliked me, and I faced real death threats. I believe I may have been under discrete police protection.
I asked Guy Chapman Associates to represent me, and spent the rest of the summer under very aggessive media surveillance. At one point I was put under so much psychological stress by the surveillance that I was under that I snapped and fled the country. I was refused admission to the United States and spent an evening at an airport hotel in Shannon, Ireland, where representatives of the media, who I imagine were angry at my having left, drove past my window miming slitting their throats with their fingernails. I was so concerned and upset by this that I faxed the Guardian newspaper from my hotel, offering them the opportunity to talk about me, but they were not in a position to do so.
In spite of being under tight, aggressive media surveillance, I never once met a journalist or PR
consultant, despite calling and/or emailing media outlets several times. In August I moved back in with my parents. I called a press conference for myself to meet the media and discuss what happened to me on 6th September 2004, at the MAC in Cannon Hill Park. Although representatives of the national media attended, I believe it was just to take my photograph, and none of them spoke with me.
I have attempted to contact the national media before, to try and talk to them about what happened to me, and maybe ask them about whether I am still kept under routine surveillance. I have especially wanted to talk to them about the stress of having been followed around and what they knew of the death threats I received, but to date no one media outlet has been in a position to get back in touch. I never once saw my name in print, nor my image in the papers, nor have I once met a PR consultant or journalist face to face. My book can be purchased from here:
http://www.lulu.com/content/122205 Yours Sincerely
Majid Salim
Majid Salim
e-mail:
majid.salim@wmssa.nhs.uk
Homepage:
http://www.majidsalim.co.uk
Comments
Display the following 2 comments