Videos of hate flout curbs on Islamists
Videos of hate flout curbs on Islamists
Steven Swinford
A DISCIPLE of one of Britain’s most notorious preachers of hate has embarked on a series of video broadcasts, praising Osama Bin Laden and calling for all “sinners” to be killed.
Abu Muwahhid, a London-based cleric, mocks the victims of September 11 and calls for the foundation of a Muslim state in Britain with a “black flag” over 10 Downing Street.
He is a member of Ahlus Sunnah wal Jamaah (ASWJ), a splinter of Al-Muhajiroun, formerly led by Omar Bakri, who fled to Lebanon a year ago.
Muwahhid is the latest in a string of radicals to emerge in defiance of Tony Blair’s announcement last year that he would clamp down on so-called “preachers of hate”. A new list of proscribed radical groups is to be published this week.
David Davis, the shadow home secretary, said the videos undermined government claims to be tough on those who incite terrorism. “We have urged the government to use the powers available to them to deal with people like this,” he said.
“We will see whether they act or whether they prefer to wait several years like they did with Abu Hamza (the cleric jailed in February for inciting murder and racial hatred).”
Other preachers who have come to the fore in the past year include Omar Brooks, a former electrician from London, who praised last year’s suicide bombers in the capital at a meeting ahead of the anniversary of the July 7 attacks.
Muwahhid also spoke at the meeting, at a community centre in Small Heath, Birmingham, which called for those who do not believe in the monotheistic tenets of Islam to be killed.
“Allah says kill the mushrikeen (sinners and polytheists) where you find them and capture them and besiege them and prepare an ambush from every angle,” he said.
He also criticised moderate Muslims, particularly those who became police officers, who he said were being paid to be a “kaffir (non-believer)”.
ASWJ, the radical Islamic movement, was formed after the break-up of Al-Muhajiroun, which described the September 11 attackers as the “Magnificent 19” and was led by Bakri.
The group has thrived despite a promise by Blair to ban the “successor organisation of Al- Muhajiroun” in May last year.
In an earlier speech, thought to have been broadcast in 2004, Muwahhid made some of his most hostile remarks, calling for Allah to take the lives of those who reject Islam. “Oh Allah, don’t leave a single kaffir on the earth: destroy them all,” he said.
He went on to praise Hurricane Charley, which hit Florida in August 2004, for making Americans homeless. “May Allah send them more hurricanes and tornadoes, and more aeroplanes as well,” he said. “We should never feel sorry for a kaffir, whether or not they die on September 11.”
In another speech, entitled Attributes of the Hypocrites, he calls for the establishment of a Muslim state. He says: “People say . . . you gonna put the black flag on 10 Downing Street? You’ll never do it until pigs fly. The pigs are flying. In America, they’re flying, these pigs, in aeroplanes.”
Muwahhid was unavailable for comment.
The videos, posted on the ASWJ website, are a challenge to Blair, who launched a 12-point anti-terrorism plan last August. “The rules of the game have changed,” he said.
Several radical clerics have been uncovered in the past year by Sunday Times reporters. Brooks is under police investigation after he was taperecorded last July imploring Muslims to “instil terror”.
Earlier this year Hamid Ali, the leading imam at the mosque in the Leeds district of Beeston, where the July 7 bombers worshipped, told an undercover reporter their terror attack in London was a “good” act. West Yorkshire police made inquiries but took no further action.
Despite the radical preaching, Blair’s plans have proved difficult to implement. ASWJ and two other groups, the Saved Sect and Al-Ghurabaa, escaped the prime minister’s aim to ban offshoots of Al-Muhajiroun by claiming they are independent of Bakri. However, Saved Sect is expected to be added to the banned list this week.
There was controversy last week when Delwar Hossain Sayeedi, a hardline Muslim Bangladeshi MP, was allowed into Britain despite concerns among some officials that on his last visit his supporters had incited violence.
Sayeedi has reportedly said Britain and America “deserve all that is coming to them” for invading Afghanistan and compared Hindus to excrement.
Inciting religious hatred and glorifying terrorism are hard to prove. Clive Walker, law professor law at Leeds University, said: “It is hard to be sure you are in the realms of inciting terrorism rather than freedom of expression.”
The Home Office said: “We have introduced the Terrorism Act 2006, which contains a series of measures to help in the fight against terrorism. Since last July we have made full use of other measures, including control orders and deportation powers, to deal with those who threaten national security.”
Steven Swinford
A DISCIPLE of one of Britain’s most notorious preachers of hate has embarked on a series of video broadcasts, praising Osama Bin Laden and calling for all “sinners” to be killed.
Abu Muwahhid, a London-based cleric, mocks the victims of September 11 and calls for the foundation of a Muslim state in Britain with a “black flag” over 10 Downing Street.
He is a member of Ahlus Sunnah wal Jamaah (ASWJ), a splinter of Al-Muhajiroun, formerly led by Omar Bakri, who fled to Lebanon a year ago.
Muwahhid is the latest in a string of radicals to emerge in defiance of Tony Blair’s announcement last year that he would clamp down on so-called “preachers of hate”. A new list of proscribed radical groups is to be published this week.
David Davis, the shadow home secretary, said the videos undermined government claims to be tough on those who incite terrorism. “We have urged the government to use the powers available to them to deal with people like this,” he said.
“We will see whether they act or whether they prefer to wait several years like they did with Abu Hamza (the cleric jailed in February for inciting murder and racial hatred).”
Other preachers who have come to the fore in the past year include Omar Brooks, a former electrician from London, who praised last year’s suicide bombers in the capital at a meeting ahead of the anniversary of the July 7 attacks.
Muwahhid also spoke at the meeting, at a community centre in Small Heath, Birmingham, which called for those who do not believe in the monotheistic tenets of Islam to be killed.
“Allah says kill the mushrikeen (sinners and polytheists) where you find them and capture them and besiege them and prepare an ambush from every angle,” he said.
He also criticised moderate Muslims, particularly those who became police officers, who he said were being paid to be a “kaffir (non-believer)”.
ASWJ, the radical Islamic movement, was formed after the break-up of Al-Muhajiroun, which described the September 11 attackers as the “Magnificent 19” and was led by Bakri.
The group has thrived despite a promise by Blair to ban the “successor organisation of Al- Muhajiroun” in May last year.
In an earlier speech, thought to have been broadcast in 2004, Muwahhid made some of his most hostile remarks, calling for Allah to take the lives of those who reject Islam. “Oh Allah, don’t leave a single kaffir on the earth: destroy them all,” he said.
He went on to praise Hurricane Charley, which hit Florida in August 2004, for making Americans homeless. “May Allah send them more hurricanes and tornadoes, and more aeroplanes as well,” he said. “We should never feel sorry for a kaffir, whether or not they die on September 11.”
In another speech, entitled Attributes of the Hypocrites, he calls for the establishment of a Muslim state. He says: “People say . . . you gonna put the black flag on 10 Downing Street? You’ll never do it until pigs fly. The pigs are flying. In America, they’re flying, these pigs, in aeroplanes.”
Muwahhid was unavailable for comment.
The videos, posted on the ASWJ website, are a challenge to Blair, who launched a 12-point anti-terrorism plan last August. “The rules of the game have changed,” he said.
Several radical clerics have been uncovered in the past year by Sunday Times reporters. Brooks is under police investigation after he was taperecorded last July imploring Muslims to “instil terror”.
Earlier this year Hamid Ali, the leading imam at the mosque in the Leeds district of Beeston, where the July 7 bombers worshipped, told an undercover reporter their terror attack in London was a “good” act. West Yorkshire police made inquiries but took no further action.
Despite the radical preaching, Blair’s plans have proved difficult to implement. ASWJ and two other groups, the Saved Sect and Al-Ghurabaa, escaped the prime minister’s aim to ban offshoots of Al-Muhajiroun by claiming they are independent of Bakri. However, Saved Sect is expected to be added to the banned list this week.
There was controversy last week when Delwar Hossain Sayeedi, a hardline Muslim Bangladeshi MP, was allowed into Britain despite concerns among some officials that on his last visit his supporters had incited violence.
Sayeedi has reportedly said Britain and America “deserve all that is coming to them” for invading Afghanistan and compared Hindus to excrement.
Inciting religious hatred and glorifying terrorism are hard to prove. Clive Walker, law professor law at Leeds University, said: “It is hard to be sure you are in the realms of inciting terrorism rather than freedom of expression.”
The Home Office said: “We have introduced the Terrorism Act 2006, which contains a series of measures to help in the fight against terrorism. Since last July we have made full use of other measures, including control orders and deportation powers, to deal with those who threaten national security.”
posted by shummer60 at Sunday, July 16, 2006
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