RECORDED OPERATIONAL INTERVIEW

SUBJECT: Amara Taji

CLASSIFICATION: RESTRICTED // POLICE INVESTIGATION

REFERENCE: CONTROLLED COPY // COT/METROPOLITAN/2035/CTC025

Document control

CASE REFERENCE: COT/METROPOLITAN/2035/CTC025

SUBJECT: Amara Taji

CENTRAL RECORD: COT9C2A5E688E3BF

RANK / APPOINTMENT: Theologian, community organiser and ideological peer to Kasem

ORGANISATION: Path of the Flame community

DATE OF BIRTH: 1999-01-25

PLACE / NATIONALITY: London, Greater London, British

INTERVIEW STATUS: Subject of investigation

LOCATION: Secure interview suite — location withheld

DATE: 26 September 2035

LEAD AUTHORITY: Metropolitan Police — Counter Terrorism Command

RECORDING MEDIA: Two sealed digital masters and one independent evidential hash

DISTRIBUTION: Named recipients only. No automated onward distribution.

NOTE: Handling notice. This document contains operational, personal and evidential material. It may be read only by a person with both the required clearance and a recorded need to know. Extraction of images, transcript segments or metadata creates a new controlled copy.

Identity and visual evidence control

VISUAL ASSET STATUS: Passport image: attached; dossier image frames available: 2; surveillance frames available: 0; identity match: matched by subject/asset map.

Reason for interview or reconstruction

This record concerns the subject's knowledge of events, communications and decisions under active investigation. The scope of this record is confined to the matters set out above and to evidence formally introduced during the session.

Preliminary investigator note

The subject arrived before the scheduled time, requested confirmation that the recording route was isolated, and inspected the exhibit seals before answering substantive questions.

Recorded interview transcript

INTERVIEWING OFFICER: State your full name for the record.

AMARA TAJI: Amara Taji

INTERVIEWING OFFICER: Do you understand the status of this interview and the limits placed on distribution?

AMARA TAJI: I understand the status. I do not accept that the distribution is as limited as the header suggests.

INTERVIEWING OFFICER: Have you been offered the representation, legal advice or staff support applicable to this procedure?

AMARA TAJI: I have, and I reserve the right to stop if the questioning moves outside them.

DOCUMENTARY EXHIBIT D-01 Retained extract: Its theologian and organiser, Amara Taji, had condemned both state violence and retaliation against civilians.

INTERVIEWING OFFICER: Do you accept that this extract accurately records an event in which you were involved?

AMARA TAJI: I followed the evidence that survived, not the explanation that arrived first. Check the physical record against the unprocessed record before you accept the later label.

INTERVIEWING OFFICER: What did you understand at that moment, before later analysis supplied a larger explanation?

AMARA TAJI: The action is in the log. The reason was not fully entered because I did not trust the distribution list. The missing interval matters more than the wording placed around it afterwards.

DOCUMENTARY EXHIBIT D-02 Retained extract: Amara Taji led from the floor beside the brass lamp. Associated persons: Daniel Sykes

INTERVIEWING OFFICER: Do you accept that this extract accurately records an event in which you were involved?

AMARA TAJI: I followed the evidence that survived, not the explanation that arrived first. Daniel Sykes can confirm the sequence, but not necessarily the interpretation.

INTERVIEWING OFFICER: Who else was physically present and capable of confirming your account without relying on the same electronic record?

AMARA TAJI: I accept the contact. I do not accept that it was unauthorised merely because it was inconvenient. The missing interval matters more than the wording placed around it afterwards.

INTERVIEWING OFFICER: Are you saying the official record is wrong?

AMARA TAJI: I am saying it may be accurate about the event and wrong about the cause.

DOCUMENTARY EXHIBIT D-03 Retained extract: Amara Taji stood between him and the door. Associated persons: Daniel Sykes

INTERVIEWING OFFICER: Do you accept that this extract accurately records an event in which you were involved?

AMARA TAJI: You can call it poor discipline. I call it keeping the witness alive long enough to be interviewed. The missing interval matters more than the wording placed around it afterwards.

INTERVIEWING OFFICER: Why was the matter not escalated through the ordinary reporting route?

AMARA TAJI: The action is in the log. The reason was not fully entered because I did not trust the distribution list. If the original is no longer available, that absence should remain part of your finding.

DOCUMENTARY EXHIBIT D-04 Retained extract: Amara Taji placed the volume on the kitchen table between them, one hand on its cracked green cover. Associated persons: Commander Lydia Green

INTERVIEWING OFFICER: Do you accept that this extract accurately records an event in which you were involved?

AMARA TAJI: I accept the contact. I do not accept that it was unauthorised merely because it was inconvenient. If the original is no longer available, that absence should remain part of your finding.

INTERVIEWING OFFICER: What part of the retained record is incomplete or misleading?

AMARA TAJI: The action is in the log. The reason was not fully entered because I did not trust the distribution list. The missing interval matters more than the wording placed around it afterwards.

INTERVIEWING OFFICER: Are you saying the official record is wrong?

AMARA TAJI: I am saying two honest records can disagree when they were generated from the same compromised source.

INTERVIEWING OFFICER: Is there any material fact you have withheld because you consider this recording or its distribution unsafe?

AMARA TAJI: I have withheld attribution, not the physical event.

INTERVIEWING OFFICER: What is the single next action this investigation should take?

AMARA TAJI: Return to the original physical record and identify every hand that altered its custody.

INTERVIEWING OFFICER: Do you wish to add or correct anything before the recording is suspended?

AMARA TAJI: Preserve the questions I declined. They may matter more than the answers you expected.

[Recording suspended. Source media sealed. Any resumed session requires a new opening declaration and exhibit schedule.]

Supplemental visual evidence exhibits

Confidential investigator assessment

The subject repeatedly separated instrument output from physical observation. That distinction is supported by known discrepancies in the retained material and should be preserved in any summary.

Actions and inconsistencies outstanding

1. Obtain or compare the independent account of Daniel Sykes; do not disclose this transcript before their unaided account is fixed.
2. Obtain or compare the independent account of Commander Lydia Green; do not disclose this transcript before their unaided account is fixed.
3. Recover acquisition authority, original-resolution files and adjacent frames for every surveillance exhibit.

NOTE: Finding limit. Nothing in this record establishes guilt, operational direction or final causation unless expressly stated as a supported finding. A valid credential, image or system entry proves only what that item can independently support.

INTERVIEWING OFFICER — sealed electronic signature held separately

Evidence custodian — receipt and hash recorded

END OF CONTROLLED RECORD — CTC-025