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| Britain |
| Cleric who urged jihad to be freed from prison |
| 2006-08-20 |
| An Islamic cleric who influenced at least one of the 7 July bombers and whose videos may have been seen by several of the terror suspects arrested earlier this month, is to be freed from prison in weeks. Sheikh Abdullah el-Faisal encouraged Muslims to attend training camps so they could wage jihad on the West. He was jailed in February 2003 for nine years, reduced to seven on appeal, after being convicted of soliciting murder and inciting racial hatred. Hundreds of Muslims attended his lectures in mosques across Britain, including Birmingham, London and Dewsbury in West Yorkshire. His trial heard recordings of el-Faisal, Jamaican by birth but living in Stratford, east London, praising Osama bin Laden. 'You have to learn how to shoot and fly planes and drive tanks,' el-Faisal told those who attended his lectures. 'Jews,' el-Faisal said, 'should be killed... as by Hitler.' He encouraged the use of chemical weapons to 'exterminate non-believers', and exhorted Muslim women to buy toy guns for their children to train them for jihad. He also suggested that nuclear power stations could be fuelled with bodies of Hindus, slaughtered for their 'oppression' of Muslims in Kashmir. Videos of his lectures have been found circulating in Muslim circles in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, where police are concentrating inquiries into this month's alleged bomb plot involving airliners. El-Faisal is eligible for parole having served more than half his sentence. The Home Office confirmed he had been served with a notice of deportation to Jamaica, signalling that he will be released in weeks - bar a successful appeal against the decision. The prospect of a man described in court as a 'fanatic and an extremist' being freed has troubled Muslim leaders who fear he will continue to disseminate his views in Britain. 'Once he's deported to Jamaica, what restrictions will there be to prevent him spreading his message of hate over the internet,' asked Andrew Dismore MP. In the government's official account of the events that led to the London bombings in July 2005, el-Faisal is credited with having had a 'strong' influence on Jermaine Lindsay, who blew up a tube train. James Ujaama, a US citizen jailed for conspiring to help the Taliban in Afghanistan, was recorded asking questions at el-Faisal's lectures. Richard Reid, who tried to detonate a bomb in his shoe on a transatlantic plane, and Zacarias Moussaoui, who was jailed for life over his involvement in the 11 September 2001 attacks, are also believed to have attended the lectures. El-Faisal's fluence extended to the US, where followers set up groups marketing tapes and endorsing jihad. After el-Faisal's conviction, Peter Clarke, head of the Metropolitan Police's anti-terrorist squad, said the case had 'nothing to do with freedom of speech', as el-Faisal claimed, 'but everything to do with racial hatred'. |
| Posted by:tipper |
| #1 His trial heard recordings of el-Faisal, Jamaican by birth but living in Stratford, east London, praising Osama bin Laden. 'You have to learn how to shoot and fly planes and drive tanks,' el-Faisal told those who attended his lectures. 'Jews,' el-Faisal said, 'should be killed... as by Hitler.' He encouraged the use of chemical weapons to 'exterminate non-believers', and exhorted Muslim women to buy toy guns for their children to train them for jihad. He also suggested that nuclear power stations could be fuelled with bodies of Hindus, slaughtered for their 'oppression' of Muslims in Kashmir. Other than that, he's a really nice guy. Let me know when he assumes room temperature. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2006-08-20 23:47 |