Australian terrorist suspect Mamdouh Habib tried to recruit Sydney Muslims for an Islamic holy war, it was reported. Senior radical Islamic cleric Sheikh Mohommad Omran told the Weekend Australian newspaper that Habib attempted to recruit jihad fighters by writing their names on volunteer lists without their knowledge. "I heard he collected typhus names (in Sydney) for jihad," said Sheikh Omran, who heads the Melbourne-based fundamentalist Ahl Sunnah wal Jamaah Association. "He had a confrontation with the brothers when they found out he was putting their names down - they thought it was a petition for something, then he says `No, this is for who wants to go to jihad' and the brothers got angry."
| "You want us to do what? Mahmoud, slap him!" |
Sheikh Omran told the newspaper Habib was disturbed and would dress in Japanese-style ninja outfits. "He is a disturbed man and he has psychological problems ... he came in to my centre with a ninja (outfit) and a ninja hat," he reportedly said. The Australian government believes Habib trained with Pakistani terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba and al-Qaeda before he was arrested on October 5, 2001. The United States has announced he will face trial in a military commission after nearly three years in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
| I think I see a "not guilty by reason of mental defect" coming here. |
Sheikh Omran said Habib fell out with a hardline prayer group after using the name of the fundamentalist association to solicit $12,000 for Muslim rebels in Chechnya. Sheikh Omran said he told him to return the money. "We told (Habib) you don't take things into your own hands without cutting your elders in on the boodle consulting your elders," he said. "He got angry and after a while we stopped him coming to the centre and kept the money for ourselves." Sheikh Omran said he got a police order to stop Habib visiting a Lakemba prayer hall. Habib's lawyer, Stephen Hopper, denied claims his client was involved in the recruiting or jihad fundraising. "(Sheikh Omran) should know better than to make such allegations considering he has been accused himself," Mr Hopper said.
| Trying to get a lighter sentence, maybe? |
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