Radical cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri urged followers to "bleed" the enemies of Islam and train their children for violence, according to videotaped sermons that were played at his trial in a London court on Thursday. The fiery preacher blamed British and American politicians for the deaths of thousands of Iraqi children and called in his sermons for the destruction of the "enemies of Allah." Al-Masri, 47, faces a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted of inciting murder and stirring racial hatred in speeches recorded on nine video and audio tapes made for supporters."Imagine you have only one small knife," he said in one of the tapes, which were played for jurors at London's Central Criminal Court. "You have to stab him here and there until he bleeds to death, until he dies." The two-hour speech was delivered in late 1997 or early 1998, prosecutor David Perry said.
Al-Masri said all Muslims should train to carry out violence and said believers must monitor "targets who are enemies of Islam." He said that from the age of 10 or 12, children should be encouraged to attend mujahedeen-style training sessions to prepare them for future violent struggle. Parents should "show them videos about jihad ideas" and "bring them up for jihad," or holy war. Prosecutors say al-Masri possessed a 10-volume terrorism "manual" which advised attacking targets such as Big Ben, the Statue of Liberty and the Eiffel Tower.