Recent Appearances...

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Recent Appearances...

Britain

Bank apologises to Nigel Farage over account closure

2023-07-23

In which the Dawn editorialist whines because a free-thinking English politician in the end is not quite treated like a bunch of convicted, jihad-supporting Moslem organizations by English banks.

[Dawn] British politician and former Brexit party leader Nigel Farage on Thursday received an apology from a private bank over the closure of his account, but the entire episode left some raising questions about the silence and lack of support surrounding bank account closures linked to British Moslems. Mr Farage made headlines in the United Kingdom this week after Coutts, a private wealth management company catering to royals and the ultra rich, had shut his accounts with no explanation. It prompted Tory MPs and even the prime minister to criticise the move as "wrong".

This week, the Brexit campaigner released documents obtained from the bank, which stated it was concerned about Mr Farage’s "xenophobic, chauvinistic and racist views" and believed maintaining his accounts posed a risk to the bank’s reputation. The Chief Executive of the Natwest Group, of which Coutts is a part, apologised for the "deeply inappropriate comments" made about Mr Farage in an internal report.

NatWest Group plc is a British banking and insurance holding company, based in Edinburgh, Scotland.

But the scandal has prompted some to draw parallels between Mr Farage’s bank account closure scandal to the close of scores of accounts linked to Moslem individuals and Moslem charities in the UK.

Several news reports in the last decade covered how British NGOs such as the Finsbury Park mosque in north London,

...former pulpit of Abu Hamza al-Masri (Mustafa Kamel Mustafa to his mother, and possibly his wife), the one-eyed, hook-handed, Al Qaeda-linked preacher extradited to America to stand trial for everything evil except mopery and dopery on the spaceways. He makes his home in the Florence, Colorado supermax prison now, which must be an illuminating experience...

international development charity the Ummah Welfare Trust (UWT)

...also called the Amanat Charity Trust. Opened in 2001, it’s based in the UK but operates schools and masjids in sixteen countries of the Ummah ...

and the Cordoba Foundation thinktank

...an Islamist pressure group that offered a platform to the international jihad feeder group Hizb ut-Tahrir...

had their HSBC bank accounts closed because banks said their accounts fell "outside of our risk appetite". Though Moslems called this out at Islamophobia

...the irrational fear that Moslems will act the way they usually do...
at the time, the bank denied the accusations and defended its decisions.

Writing for Middle Eastern Eye, prominent British journalist and broadcaster Peter Oborne compared Mr Farage’s banking conundrum with that of British Moslems, saying "Welcome to the world of British Moslems."

He drew attention to the articles he had written about the closing down of Moslem charities accounts, and how little space they got in newspapers as compared to Mr Farage’s case.

"Contrast the Westminster reaction when a Moslem loses her or his account — total lack of any interest, let alone concern, but when Farage supposedly loses his, Fleet Street has an attack of the vapours."

He continued, "I can’t help comparing the alacrity with which the government has gone into battle on behalf of Farage to its total indifference to the fate of British Moslems and others over many years. This shows two things: first and foremost, the structural Islamophobia which has long poisoned British media and politics. When Moslems have their bank accounts closed, nobody cares. When the same thing allegedly happens to Nigel Farage it’s close to a national scandal."

Not everyone agrees with the comparison. Wasiq Wasiq, an academic and counter-terrorism commentator, told Dawn. "’The closure of Nigel Farage’s bank account, based on his political views, sets a dangerous precedent — that if your views do not align with those of the organization, then you are not welcome to bank with us. This can have an impact on not only prominent political figures, but also the general public.

"However,
a good lie finds more believers than a bad truth...
the closure of accounts is something banks are entitled to do. Nearly a decade ago, it was widely reported by the BBC, Guardian and the Independent that HSBC closed the bank accounts of prominent Moslems and Islamic NGOs. At the time, the accusation levied against HSBC was that the decision was based on ’Islamophobia’. But the decision to close the accounts was because they fell ’outside of our risk appetite’.

"It is important to note, because of the regions these organizations were working in, they were vulnerable to exploitation by money launderers and forces of Evil seeking to use them for financing purposes. This risk is not the same as the potential risk of Nigel Farage having an account with Coutts. To conflate the two, makes a mockery of when banks act in a way that could affect the average Brit, as opposed to organizations being vulnerable to exploitation by money launderers and terrorists."

UK banks are free to deny services to customers for a number of reasons, including suspicions over financial crime. Banks can also choose to close or refuse an account if they believe customers pose a risk to their reputation — one of the key reasons Coutts cited for shutting Nigel Farage’s account.

Mr Farage has had the support and sympathy of several key people in government who criticised Coutts and asked for an explanation, with some ministers saying a new law could be drawn up to prevent banks closing accounts of people because of their political views.

Link

Europe

Paris man attempts to ram car into crowd outside mosque in Creteil suburb

2017-06-30

One incident is merely that. Two incidents suggest concern. Three incidents show a trend. We are now at two.

[DW] Gay Paree police have said that no one was hurt in the attempted attack and that the man were tossed into the calaboose. Reports indicate that the perpetrator had wanted to avenge attacks linked to the so-called "Islamic State."

Gay Paree police have said that no one was hurt in the attempted attack and that the man were tossed into the calaboose. Reports indicate that the perpetrator had wanted to avenge attacks linked to the so-called "Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
French authorities on Thursday night said that the attacker had failed to run his car into a crowd outside a mosque in the Gay Pareeian suburb of Creteil because of barriers set up in front of the religious site.

The driver reportedly tried to repeatedly break through the barrier, but expeditiously departed at a goodly pace after realizing he couldn't go further. He was later incarcerated
... anything you say can and will be used against you, whether you say it or not...
in his home.

Local media reported that the man had wanted to avenge attacks carried out by the so-called "Islamic State" jihadist group, which over the past years have killed dozens of people in the French capital. French news agency Agence La Belle France Presse (AFP) said the man had made "confused remarks" about the jihadist attacks carried out in La Belle France in recent years.

Unconfirmed reports suggest the perpetrator was a 43-year-old Armenian.

The incident mirrors last week's attack outside a mosque in the Finsbury Park area of north London, when a man plowed a van into a crowd of worshippers, killing one and injuring about a dozen peope. The perpetrator, identified as 48-year-old Darren O., was detained soon after and charged with terrorism-related murder and attempted murder.

"What has happened in Creteil seems to justify the fears I expressed following the attack by the Finsbury Park mosque in London," Abdallah Zekri of the French Council of the Moslem Faith told AFP.

However,
Switzerland makes more than cheese...
French authorities said that an investigation into Thursday's failed attack would continue to be carried out by regular police, rather than by an anti-terrorism unit. Police said they would first determine whether the perpetrator was sane and could be held accountable for his actions.
What's the French word for "intifada?"

Link

Britain

Finsbury Park: Number of casualties as 'van hits pedestrians' on Seven Sisters Road

2017-06-19

The Telegraph is liveblogging this story as it unfolds.

[Telegraph] One person has been enjugged
Drop the gat, Rocky, or you're a dead 'un!
after a vehicle struck pedestrians, leaving "a number of casualties" in north London.

Officers were called at 12.20am on Monday to Seven Sisters Road, the Metropolitan Police said.

London Ambulance Service said: "We have sent a number of resources to an incident in Seven Sisters Road."

The incident reportedly happened close to Finsbury Park mosque.

...long time home pulpit of one-eyed, hook-handed hate preacher Abu Hamza, known to his mother back in Egypt as Mustafa Kamel Mustafa. He now graces the Florence, Colorado supermax prison, and was connected to more planned and executed terror plots around the world over the past several decades than you can shake a stick at, many of them Al Qaeda.

Witnesses reported seeing six people on the ground after the van ploughed into worshippers who had been attending evening prayers at the Muslim Welfare House.

Eyewitnesses reported seeing bystanders wrestle the suspect to the ground and pin him down until officers arrived.

One eyewitness speaking to LBC said the van had hit people on the pavement, but had not collided with a building. "It looked like he had lost control of the van or something," he said.

A man leapt out of a white van and stabbed at least one person near a North London mosque, the Evening Standard newspaper reported on Monday, citing witnesses.

The suspect screamed "I'm going to kill all Muslims" before he was tackled to the floor, according to a witness.

Link

Home Front: WoT

Abu Hamza Evidence 'Overwhelming' Jurors Told

2014-05-15

[An Nahar] A federal prosecutor Wednesday urged a New York jury to convict Islamist holy man Abu Hamza on kidnapping and terrorism charges, insisting in closing arguments the evidence against him was "simply overwhelming."

"The real Abu Hamza is not the man you see now in 2014," said assistant U.S. attorney Ian MacGinley. "The real Abu Hamza is guilty. Don't let the passage of time dismiss what he did."

Mustafa Kamel Mustafa, Abu Hamza's real name, was extradited from Britannia in October 2012 to stand trial on 11 counts of kidnapping and terrorism.

Blind in one eye and with no hands, the 56-year-old defendant is the ex-imam of the Finsbury Park mosque in north London.

As Abu Hamza, a fiery
...a single two-syllable word carrying connotations of both incoherence and viciousness. A fiery delivery implies an audience of rubes and yokels, preferably forming up into a mob...
and influential preacher, he became one of the main figures of "Londonistan," the Islamist network based in the British capital during the 1990s.

The charges against him pre-date the 9/11 attacks on New York and include the 1998 abduction of 16 Western tourists in Yemen, four of whom were killed in a military rescue operation.

He is also accused of trying to set up a terrorist training camp in the United States in 1999, and of promoting "violent jihad" on a global scale.

Among the charges against him are providing material support to al-Qaeda, assisting the Taliban and sending terror recruits to Afghanistan.

He faces life in prison if convicted and denies all the charges.

"The evidence is simply overwhelming," MacGinley contended in his two and a half hour closing arguments.

The prosecution presented documents, photographs, videos and tape recordings to support their case.

"He jumped on opportunities around the globe to support jihad. In Yemen, in Afghanistan, in the U.S.," MacGinley said of Abu Hamza.

Link

Home Front: WoT

US trial begins for Abu Hamza

2014-04-15

[Al Ahram] Jury selection began on Monday in the trial of radical Islamic holy man Abu Hamza al-Masri, accused of conspiring in a 1998 kidnapping in Yemen that resulted in the deaths of four tourists.

Abu Hamza also is accused of trying to set up a jihadist training camp in Bly, Oregon, and of raising money to send bully boyz to train in Afghanistan.

The 55-year-old imam, who is using his birth name, Mustafa Kamel Mustafa, during the trial, faces life in prison if convicted of the most serious charges against him.

Prior to Monday, more than 200 prospective jurors filled out questionnaires that asked, among other things, whether they felt they could be impartial in a case involving terrorism-related charges.

On Friday, US District Judge Katherine Forrest struck 45 potential jurors whom both prosecutors and defense lawyers agreed should be dismissed based on their answers, as well as an additional 41 jurors she decided should be excused.

US prosecutors are trying to secure their second high-profile terrorism conviction in a matter of weeks, after a jury found the late Osama bin Laden
... who is now beyond all cares and woe...
's son-in-law Suleiman Abu Ghaith guilty last month.

Unlike in several other terrorism-related trials, including that of Abu Ghaith, the jury will not be anonymous.

Abu Hamza, who has said he is innocent, has indicated he plans to testify in his own defense.

A fiery
...a single two-syllable word carrying connotations of both incoherence and viciousness. A fiery delivery implies an audience of rubes and yokels, preferably forming up into a mob...
orator, Abu Hamza was extradited from Britannia in 2012 after spending several years in jail on charges of inciting his followers to kill non-believers.

The Egyptian-born preacher delivered speeches and led prayers at the Finsbury Park mosque in north London. While there, according to British officials, he had contacts with several high-profile myrmidons, including Briton Richard Reid, who unsuccessfully tried to blow up a Miami-bound airplane with a bomb hidden in his shoe in 2001, and Zacarias Moussaoui, who helped plan the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States that killed nearly 3,000 people.

Abu Hamza is missing one eye and both hands and is known for using a prosthetic metal hook. He has said he suffered the injuries while doing humanitarian work in Afghanistan in the 1980s, though authorities say they occurred while he fought with the mujahideen against the Soviet Union.

Link

Home Front: WoT

NYPD On High Alert: Trial Of Hate Preacher Abu Hamza Could Inspire Terror Across City

2014-04-03

[DailyMail] o Abu Hamza's trial for terrorism charges in New York starts this month
o It's first day coincides with the beginning of Jewish holiday Passover, April 14th
o The NYPD fears that the trial may incite acts of terrorism

A decade after Abu Hamza was first tossed in the calaboose
Don't shoot, coppers! I'm comin' out!
in Britannia on a US warrant for terrorism charges, he is finally due to go on trial in Manhattan. The hook-handed holy man is facing allegations that he controlled a global network of jihadists.

This week, Hamza, who was extradited from Britannia in 2012, was described as a 'star' among terrorists, by Rebecca Weiner, director of intelligence analysis for the NYPD.

'We are attuned to the possibility that his upcoming trial may inspire more terror,' Ms Weiner told religious leaders during a pre-Passover conference, the NYDailyNews reports. 'It is a major priority for us in the next couple of weeks.'

Deputy Commissioner of Intelligence John Miller asserted that although the NYPD is on high alert during the trial, there is 'is no specific, credible threat' at this time.

Last month, Hamza was dubbed a 'terrorist leader of global reach' by the US government who claims he sent 'lieutenants' to terror camps worldwide.
Prosecutors have lodged legal papers ahead of his forthcoming trial alleging that: 'The [American] government will show that the defendant was a terrorist leader of global reach who ... sent his young lieutenants around the world to engage in terror training.'

The prosecution will say the preacher used Finsbury Park mosque in north London as a recruiting base, not only inspiring jihadists with his hateful sermons, but also allegedly directly providing support to Al Qaeda from Britannia.

Court papers show prosecutors consider Hamza so dangerous that they have argued jurors should be given anonymity and an armed guard for their safety.

He faces 11 terrorism charges spanning America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia which go back as far as 1998. If convicted, he faces spending the rest of his life in a maximum security US prison.

The trial, scheduled to last six weeks, could prove embarrassing for the British security services and previous governments who allowed the preacher to operate freely for years after he arrived here from Egypt, despite openly giving sermons praising the late Osama bin Laden
... who is no longer with us, and won't be again...
in the wake of the 9/11 attacks.

Court papers allege one of his 'lieutenants' from London was sent to Afghanistan for 'violent jihad training' and said he was prepared to take part in attacks against American and Jewish targets. Hamza is separately accused of trying to set up a 'jihad training camp' in Bly, Oregon where one of his followers is said to have penned a letter to Osama bin Laden saying: 'We love you here.' Hamza is also charged with involvement in a hostage-taking incident in Yemen in 1998 that led to the deaths of three Britons and an Australian.

The preacher was first arrested in Britannia in May 2004 on a US extradition warrant and charged with 15 terrorism offences. In 2006 he was locked away
Yez got nuttin' on me, coppers! Nuttin'!
for soliciting murder and stirring up racial hatred. He was extradited to America in 2012 after a costly and protracted legal battle invoking human rights
...which are often intentionally defined so widely as to be meaningless...
law. He denies all the charges.

Link

Home Front: WoT

Abu Hamza Appears In NY Court Without His Hook

2012-10-07

Abu Hamza, the notorious hate preacher, has appeared in court in New York after finally losing his extradition battle.

A few streets from the scene of the September 11 attacks that he hailed as "a towering day in history", Abu Hamza

...lunatic Finsbury Park mosque preacher and recruiter for al-Qaeda, aka Captain Hook...

was in a New York courtroom on Saturday night facing terrorist charges.

The one-eyed Islamic preacher appeared in the dock minus the hook that he has used since his hands were blown off by a bomb after US officials ordered it to be removed them for security reasons.

He stood in the dock, the stumps of his arms protruding from a navy blue jumpsuit. During the hearing, in which he did not enter a plea, his lawyers asked for the return of his prosthetics, saying they were essential for him to "function in a civilised manner".

Hamza, whose fiery
...a single two-syllable word carrying connotations of both incoherence and viciousness. A fiery delivery implies an audience of rubes and yokels, preferably forming up into a mob...
sermonds helped to inspire one of the September 11 plotters, and four other alleged terrorist suspects were flown into the United States from RAF Mildenhall, Suffolk, in the early hours of Saturday after losing their long and expensive battles against extradition from Britannia.

Their arrival on American soil was the cause of as much delight to US officials as it was relief to British ministers, who had long been frustrated in attempts to extradite the men by European courts.

The accused were "at the nerve centres of Al Qaeda's 'terror networks' and will finally face justice", said Preet Bharara, the US district attorney who will lead the prosecution in New York.

Hamza, 54, an Egyptian-born naturalised Briton who once worked as a London nightclub bouncer, is being held in the maximum-security "terror wing" of the Metropolitan Correctional Centre (MCC) with Adel Abdel Bary, 52, and Khaled al Fawwa, 50.

He was led through a tunnel under the street to the federal courthouse in lower Manhattan for his first appearance before a magistrate on Saturday.

Hamza faces terrorism charges for the 1998 kidnapping in Yemen of Western tourists in which three Britons and an Australian were killed, supporting the establishment of a terrorist training camp in Oregon and facilitating violent jihad in Afghanistan.

Bary and Fawwaz are also charged with participation in the bombings of two US embassies in east Africa in 1998 that killed 224 people, including 12 Americans. Among the defendants on that charge sheet is the late the late Osama bin Laden
... who is now among the dear departed, though not among the dearest...
, the former al-Qaeda chief.

Two other defendants, Syed Talha Ahsan, 33, and Babar Ahmad, 36, who are both British, pleaded not guilty
"Wudn't me."
at a separate appearance in US District Court in New Haven, Connecticut, on Saturday morning.

They are charged with operating websites that sought to raise cash and equipment and recruit fighters for al Qaeda and for terrorist groups in Afghanistan and Chechnya.

Mary Galligan, head of the FBI in New York, added "The extraditions of Abu Hamza, Bary and Fawwaz are a major milestone in our effort to see these alleged high-level bully boyz face American justice. The indictments allege the direct participation of these defendants in planning and carrying out some of the most odious acts of al Qaeda terrorism."

In the 1990s, Hamza turned the Finsbury Park mosque into a recruiting ground Islamic radicals. Among congregation for his hate-filled anti-Western sermons were Sept 11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui and failed "shoe bomber" Richard Reid, who are both serving life sentences in the solitary confinement in the "Supermax" in Colorado.

Lawyers for Hamza, who described al Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden as a "hero", had fought a long battle against his extradition, arguing that he suffered from depression, chronic sleep deprivation, diabetes and other ailments.

They and lawyers for the other four men argued that the threat of indefinite solitary imprisonment in such harsh conditions in the US was "inhumane" under European statutes.

But European judicial authorities finally rejected their cases and on Friday, the High Court in London ruled that the men had run out of grounds for appeal and could be extradited immediately.

"I'm absolutely delighted that Abu Hamza is now out of this country," British Prime Minister

David Cameron
... has stated that he is certainly a big Thatcher fan, but I don't know whether that makes me a Thatcherite, which means he's not. Since he is not deeply ideological he lacks core principles and is easily led. He has been described as certainly not a Pitt, Elder or Younger, but he does wear a nice suit so maybe he's Beau Brummel ...
said. "Like the rest of the public I'm sick to the back teeth of people who come here, threaten our country, who stay at vast expense to the taxpayer and we can't get rid of them."

"I'm delighted on this occasion we've managed to send this person off to a country where he will face justice," he added.

Hamza, the son of an Egyptian army officer who gained British nationality by marriage, had previously been convicted in London on separate charges of inciting racial hatred and encouraging followers to kill non-Mohammedans.

The extradition of Ahmed caused particular controversy as his alleged crimes were committed in Britannia but British courts declined to prosecute him for lack of evidence. He is facing charges in Connecticut because as an Internet service provider there was allegedly used to host one of the websites.

The court had earlier ruled that the conditions at "Supermax" do not amount to torture, a key plank of the accused men's attempts to fight extradition under the European Court of Human Rights.

Due to his poor health, it is thought Abu Hamza may be sentenced to serve a jail term in another high-security facility. But if convicted, the other four are expected to be sent to Supermax.

Under the terms of the extradition deal, they cannot face the death penalty or be sent the Guantanamo Bay prison camp for prosecution at a special military tribunal. They must be tried in a federal civilian courts.

It could take anywhere from nine months to two years before the men face a full trial. They will initially be defended by court-appointed lawyers, but there is an experienced group of attorneys who have represented Guantanamo detainees who may be interested in taking their cases.

US legal analysts said the men might be advised to strike plea bargains and receive sentences in the region of around 15 years for co-operating with prosecutors.

The Manhattan Federal Court where Hamza was scheduled to appear yesterday is a tall, imposing stone building located in downtown New York which has dealt with some of the most high profile cases in recent history, including disgraced financier Bernie Madoff.

Three coppers stood outside the court wearing bullet proof vests and armed with guns. Crowd control barriers had been put out the front of the building.

Hamza is expected to be held awaiting trial at the Metropolitan Correctional Centre in near solitary confinement in the prison's "special housing unit". The MCC is a grim, fortress-like structure, standing 14 stories tall and made of concrete that has stained over the years.

Previous terror suspects held there have been kept in solitary for 23 hours a day and 24 hours on weekends.

Even during Hamza's hour out of his cell he is unlikely to see anyone else and will instead be allowed to exercise in the caged area on the roof for an hour a day on his own.

Lawyers for convicted arms trader Viktor Bout, who spent 14 months there in solitary, said it was so vile that it was like the jail depicted in the Alexandre Dumas novel The Count of Monte Cristo. Prison guards are also known to pound on the doors at 2am and 5am and shine their flashlights in to make sure prisoners are still there.

The only TVs are in the common areas which Hamza will probably never be allowed to visit.

The prison holds about 750 inmates, though not all of them will be of the same standing as Hamza and include drug pushers and gangsters.

Among those who have been held at the MCC include mafia crime boss John Gotti, failed Times Square bomber Faisal Shahzad and 1993 World Trade Centre bomber Ramzi Yusef.

Link

Britain

BBC apologises to Queen for revealing private conversation about Abu Hamza

2012-09-25

Security correspondent told how Queen lobbied home secretary to secure arrest of Islamist cleric
The BBC has apologised to the Queen after its security correspondent recounted a private conversation in which the monarch told him she had lobbied a home secretary to secure the arrest of Abu Hamza al-Masri, the radical Islamist cleric.

Frank Gardner said the monarch personally told him she was aghast that Abu Hamza, who faces imminent extradition to the US, could not be arrested during the period when he regularly aired vehemently anti-British views as imam of Finsbury Park mosque in north London.

The Queen never expresses overtly political views herself, and the convention for people conversing with her, for example at palace receptions or other meetings, is that whatever is said remains off the record.

During an interview with BBC Radio 4's Today programme about the wider issue of the 54-year-old's newly approved extradition to the US, Gardner said of Abu Hamza's former activities that there was a sense MI5 had been too slow to realise how dangerous he was in radicalising other people.

Gardner continued: "Actually, I can tell you that the Queen was pretty upset that there was no way to arrest him. She couldn't understand surely there had been some law that he had broken? In the end, sure enough, there was. He was eventually convicted and sentenced for seven years for soliciting murder and racial hatred."

A clearly surprised James Naughtie, interviewing Gardner, described this revelation as "a corker". Gardner said: "Yes, I thought I'd drop that in. She told me."

Gardner said: "She spoke to the home secretary at the time and said, surely this man must have broken some laws. Why is he still at large? He was conducting these radical activities and he called Britain a toilet. He was incredibly anti-British and yet he was sucking up money from this country for a long time. He was a huge embarrassment to Muslims, who condemned him."

Link

Britain

Al-Qaeda inspired extremists recruit Muslims youths for jihad

2009-05-18

Follow-up.

London (PTI): Al-Qaeda-inspired extremists in Britain used the premises of a mosque in south London to recruit Muslim youths and encouraged them to travel to Pakistan for terrorist training, a media report claimed on Sunday.

In the first insider account of how radicals are preying on vulnerable Muslim youths, an 18-year old teenager described being approached by Islamic extremists at the Stockwell mosque that was used by bombers, who plotted the failed 21/7 terror attack on London's transport network.

Aged 15, Adam, whose real name was withheld by the paper, was the youngest of about 50 "recruits" who were shown "martyrdom" videos and encouraged to travel to Pakistan to receive terrorist training, The Sunday Times said. "They showed us a jihadist video with the martyrdom flags behind the guy speaking, and the message I got was that I should prepare myself to martyrdom.

"I know a few of the others accepted that they would go (for training in Pakistan). Some of the young people said, "'I'm going to go'," the youth told the paper.

While Adam quit the group after a year, the whereabouts of most of the other recruits is unknown, the report said.

Adam's new mentors were Mohammed Hamid, a preacher with links to the 21/7 bombers who called himself Osama Bin London, and Atilla Ahmet, a former aide to Abu Hamza, the cleric of Finsbury Park mosque in north London.

Link

Britain

'I was groomed for jihad in Britain'

2009-05-17

A teenager has revealed how he was recruited by Al-Qaeda-inspired extremists and groomed to carry out suicide attacks in Britain. In the first insider account of how radicals are preying on vulnerable Muslim youths, the teenager describes being approached by Islamists at a mosque in south London that was used by the failed 21/7 bombers, and indoctrinated at a secret network of squats. Aged 15, he was the youngest of about 50 recruits who were shown martyrdom videos and encouraged to travel to Pakistan to receive terrorist training.

The youth, who is called Adam, told The Sunday Times: They showed us a jihadist video with the martyrdom flags behind the guy speaking, and the message I got was that I should prepare myself for martyrdom. I know a few of the others accepted that they would go [for training in Pakistan]. Some of the young people said, Im going to go. That was the ultimate purpose of what these men were doing: what they were doing was training people up to carry out operations in the UK.

Adam, who is now 18, quit the group after a year. The whereabouts of most of the other recruits is unknown. It was quite shocking to me, he said. I started to think, Well, hold on a second, I dont want to kill anybody. Yeah, Ive got anger inside me, but this isnt the right way to deal with this. Adam, whose real name is being withheld to protect his safety, is now enrolled in a rehabilitation programme for would-be terrorists. The scheme is a blueprint for a nationwide detoxification programme backed by the Home Office and police chiefs to which 200 people some as young 13 have been referred.

When Adam fell under the spell of extremists at the Stockwell mosque in Lambeth in 2005, he was floundering at school, had few friends and was desperately in need of some direction. He was the eldest of seven children whose Algerian father had died when he was just eight, and his new friends talk of Muslim brotherhood seemed to offer the stability he craved. A lot of people think that terrorists are recruited in special recruiting grounds, but the truth is that it actually goes on in mosques a lot of the time, said the gangly south London teenager. Youll go to pray and therell be small groups of people just away from the main group in the mosque having their own discussion, talking about jihad and all these types of things. They started talking to me about whats going on in Iraq and about how all the people are dying and then they started inviting me to religious talks.

The Stockwell mosque had previously been attended by Muktar Ibrahim and Hussain Osman, two of the four men who failed in their attempt to carry out suicide bombings on Londons transport network on July 21, 2005 two weeks after the 7/7 attacks which killed 52 commuters. Adams new mentors were Mohammed Hamid, a preacher with links to the 21/7 bombers who called himself Osama Bin London, and Atilla Ahmet, a former aide to Abu Hamza, the hook-handed cleric of Finsbury Park mosque in north London.

A month after Adam was approached at the mosque, he was invited to the first of many meetings at a rundown squat in south London. It was here and in similar buildings that the real process of indoctrination went on, with exposure to violent videos, including footage of beheadings. They would show us videos of people bragging about 7/7 and 9/11 and they made it clear that they approved of it, said Adam, who was one of two 15-year-old recruits, the youngest out of a group of 15-20 men. They werent as blunt as to say, Yes, we did this or We did that. They were more aware than anyone that theres a chance that someone in that room could be recording them.

Adam was told that more advanced recruits had been sent on training exercises to the Lake District and the New Forest in Hampshire, as well as paintballing sessions in the home counties. At Ibrahims trial it emerged that several of these training camps were the subject of police surveillance.

Adam said Ahmet and Hamid, who helped to radicalise some of the 21/7 bombers at his east London home, often distorted quotes from the Koran to back their arguments. For example, the Koran says killing innocents is one of the biggest sins, but they would say that the innocents were just collateral damage and it was therefore okay, said Adam. Unlike Ibrahim, Adam never travelled to Pakistan. Hamid and Ahmet were arrested in a south London restaurant in September 2006 with seven other followers. The pair were jailed for terrorism offences last year.

Adam and about 45 other young men are now being rehabilitated through a training programme run by an education centre attached to Stockwell mosque. Designed and run by Toaha Qureshi, a mosque trustee, the programmes intensive courses combine religious and social mentoring with sports activities and business training. One former would-be suicide bomber has recently set up his own car-washing business with the Stockwell centres help. We have another young man who has been with us for almost nine months, said Qureshi. He spent time in prison on terrorism charges, but now works here, as well as completing his foundation course in business. We are working here to protect the community by re-engaging these young men into productive activity.

In 2003, when Qureshi first complained about extremists inciting racial and religious hatred at Stockwell mosque, police took little action. Now the authorities are showing a keen interest in the success of his detox programme. Indeed, it is virtually a blueprint for a controversial national rehabilitation scheme called the Channel Project. Set up by the Home Office in 2007 with pilot schemes in Lambeth and Lancashire, the project has since been expanded to 11 sites across the UK, and there are plans for a further 15.

More than 200 people including two 13-year-olds and some individuals as old as 50 have been identified as vulnerable to radicalisation and offered support via the Channel Project. The programme relies on teachers, parents and other community figures to be vigilant for signs indicating an attraction to extremist views. Commander Craig Denholm, the police officer responsible for overseeing Channel, denied that it amounted to spying on the Muslim community.

Reflecting on his indoctrination and the prospect of becoming a suicide bomber, Adam admitted last week: I feel very grateful that I didnt go down that road. Now I want an office job.

The Telegraph has a story about the Channel Project here.

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Britain

UK court: Radical cleric can't appeal extradition to US

2008-07-24

A British court ruled Wednesday that a radical Muslim preacher accused of helping to set up a terrorist training camp in rural Oregon cannot appeal against extradition to the United States to face terrorism charges. Justice Igor Judge refused Abu Hamza al-Masri's application to challenge his extradition in the House of Lords, the country's highest court of appeal.

The High Court ruled last month that al-Masri should be sent to the US, where an 11-count indictment accuses him of offenses including supporting al-Qaida and the Taliban.

Al-Masri's lawyers can still appeal to the European Court of Human Rights. His attorneys have questioned US assurances that he would not be mistreated or face the death penalty if convicted.

US officials allege al-Masri, 51, conspired to establish a training camp in Bly, Oregon, where followers received combat and weapons training for violent jihad in Afghanistan. They also say he assisted extremists who kidnapped 16 foreign tourists in Yemen in 1998. Three British tourists and one Australian visitor were killed in a shootout between Yemeni security forces and the captors.

Al-Masri also is accused of facilitating terrorist training in Afghanistan.

The former imam at London's Finsbury Park Mosque, al-Masri is one of Britain's best-known Islamist radicals. The Egyptian-born preacher is blind in one eye and has hooks in place of the hands he says he lost fighting Soviet troops in Afghanistan in the 1980s. Under his leadership the Finsbury Park mosque became a magnet for extremists. Its worshipers included Sept. 11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui and "shoe bomber" Richard Reid.

He was arrested in London on a US extradition warrant in 2004, but the process was put on hold while he stood trial in Britain for inciting racial hatred and encouraging followers to kill non-Muslims. He was convicted in 2006 and is serving a seven-year sentence.

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Britain

America's fury as Hamza smuggles hate messages from jail cell

2008-06-29

American counter-terrorism chiefs are demanding a full explanation from Britain of how radical cleric Abu Hamza was able to smuggle murderous messages from his UK prison cell to Al Qaeda's deputy leader. The major diplomatic row comes in the wake of a long-running battle by US prosecutors to extradite the former imam of London's Finsbury Park mosque to stand trial in America.

Hook-handed Hamza was jailed for seven years in Britain in 2006 for inciting murder and racial hatred and is held at Belmarsh prison, South-East London, supposedly one of Britain's most secure jails. But according to senior American intelligence sources, Hamza evaded the extensive security measures surrounding him to send a series of questions to Ayman al-Zawahiri, Osama Bin Laden's right-hand man.

Late last year, Al-Zawahiri - who has a £13million bounty on his head - posted a message on an extremist website run by Al Qaeda saying he would answer questions on any topic. US intelligence tracked all the email replies and among them were messages from Abu Hamza. It is understood they were sent from an email address known to be linked to the cleric. The sources say they have no doubt that al-Zawahiri was personally involved in answering the questions and that those posed by Hamza had genuinely originated from him.

Brits have some explaining to do ...

US prosecutors have been fighting for four years to send Hamza for trial in the US. They accuse him of involvement in a global conspiracy to wage jihad against the US and other Western countries. Among the most serious accusations is one that he was involved in the kidnap by Islamic radicals of 16 tourists in the Yemen in 1998. Four hostages, including three Britons, died in a rescue attempt.

Earlier this month the High Court turned down Hamza's latest appeal against efforts to send him to the US but his lawyers could still fight his extradition by applying to the House of Lords and the European Court.

For the Americans, frustrated by the length of time it has taken to bring Hamza for trial in the US, the revelation that he was also able to keep in touch with Al Qaeda's high command has caused widespread anger. One source pointedly said that 'if he is transferred to US custody, he would be kept in the country's highest security prison in Colorado'. Once there, the source added: 'It would be absolutely impossible for him to communicate with Al Qaeda.'

US counter-intelligence chiefs are said to be particular concerned because Hamza's questions suggest Al Qaeda may be planning a new front in its activities in Egypt - where both Hamza and al-Zawahiri were born - and openly discuss the murder of police and other law enforcement officers.

Hamza wrote: 'I have two questions for you, our great Shaykh. First: When will there be a wing of the organisation in Egypt? And if it is there, how can one join the caravan?

'Second: What is your opinion of the officers of State Security in Egypt? Are they committing unbelief? And is it permissible to kill them? Or does the matter have its particulars?'

Al-Zawahiri answered: 'First, the days will reveal to you what you didn't know. And news will come to you from those who didn't have it.

'Second, I believe the officers of the State Security Anti-Religious Activities Branch and who investigate Islamic causes and torture the Muslims are infidels, each and every one of them. They know more about the Islamic movements than many of those movements' members know about them. And it is permissible to kill the officers of State Security and the rest of the personnel of the police, whether we declare them unbeliever individually or declare them unbelievers in general, if that is the framework of a combat campaign.

'As for the discretion of your brothers in Qaeda al-Jihad Group, it is to focus at this stage on striking American and Zionist targets and targets of the states allied with it in the aggression against the Muslims and on serious efforts to change the regimes in the hire of the Crusaders and Jews. And Allah knows best.'

Last night a Whitehall source said: 'If the Americans had information that a terror suspect in Britain was in communication with senior figures in Al Qaeda, I am confident we would be informed.'

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