A LEADING imam in the mosque where the July 7 bombers worshipped has hailed
their terrorist attack on London as a “good” act in a secretly taped
conversation with an undercover reporter.
Hamid Ali, spiritual leader of the mosque in West Yorkshire, said it had
forced people to take notice when peaceful meetings and conferences had no
impact.
He also praised the bombers as the “children” of Abdullah al-Faisal, a
firebrand Muslim cleric, who was convicted of inciting murder and racial
hatred in 2003.
Ali revealed that the leader of the London suicide bombers had attended
sermons in Yorkshire by al-Faisal and tapes of al-Faisal’s teachings were
still circulating within his mosque.
Al-Faisal, who has branded non-Muslims as “cockroaches” ripe for
extermination, is serving a seven-year prison sentence but is eligible for
early release next week.
Evidence of continuing extremism and terrorist sympathisers in the bombers’
community has been exposed by a six-week investigation by The Sunday Times.
It contrasts with the public statements of condemnation by community leaders
— including Ali — in the immediate aftermath of the July 7 attacks.
The disclosures come as a Sunday Times-YouGov poll today shows that people
are gloomy about the prospects of living in peaceful coexistence with
Britain’s Muslim community. Nearly two-thirds, 63%, think that tensions will
rise and only 17% are optimistic about the outlook. By 10 to one, 52% to 5%,
people say that recent events have made them less tolerant of other
religions.
How the July 7 bombers came to be radicalised has proved to be one of the
biggest mysteries surrounding their involvement. Even the intelligence
services are understood to be in the dark.
In an attempt to shed light on this, an undercover reporter of Bangladeshi
origin, posing as a student, lived among the Muslim community in Beeston,
Leeds, where three of the bombers — Mohammad Sidique Khan, Shehzad Tanweer
and Hasib Mir Hussain — had grown up.
The community had closed ranks in the aftermath of the London attacks which
killed 56 people, including the bombers. Besieged by the world’s media and
fearing reprisals from far-right extremists, many people had refused to talk
about the bombers.
However, among those now willing to condone the bombers was Ali, spiritual
leader of the Al-Madina Masjid mosque in Tunstall Road, Beeston, where the
bombers had worshipped.
A week after the attack he had told newspapers that the perpetrators ought to
be punished. But in a secretly taped conversation, he said: “What they [the
bombers] did was good. They have warned that we are here, we Muslims. People
have taken notice that we are here. They died so that people would take
notice . . . big meetings and conferences make no change at all. With this,
at least people’s ears have pricked up.”
Describing the bombers as the “children” of “Sheikh” al-Faisal and part of
his group of followers, the imam disclosed that al-Faisal had visited the
Beeston mosque at least three times to give “lectures”.
The imam described al-Faisal as a good Islamic scholar who was also “fiery”.
He said Khan had many of his audio tapes: “He had lots of them. He
definitely used to listen to al-Faisal tapes. I borrowed some from him.”
He recalled Khan asking al-Faisal many questions during one of these lectures.
Khan, a primary school teaching assistant, is believed to have received
training at terrorist camps in Pakistan after al-Faisal was jailed.
The cleric’s visits to Beeston have been confirmed by Afzal Choudhary, a race
equality worker in Leeds. He said: “Sheikh al-Faisal came at least twice to
Beeston. I should know because I was one of the people opposed to his
coming.”
Al-Faisal, a 42-year-old Jamaican-born convert, toured the country for almost
a decade making inflammatory speeches which were recorded on video and audio
and were then sold to his followers.
In one he singles out Mother Teresa and the royal family, saying they would
burn in hell. In another he rants: “The only way forward is for you, the
Muslims, to kill the kufrs (non-believers).”
This weekend it emerged that he could soon be freed from prison after becoming
eligible for early release. His nine-year sentence had already been cut to
seven years on appeal. According to a Home Office source, Charles Clarke,
the home secretary, must decide within the next two weeks whether to let him
go free after the judge at his trial recommended that he be deported after
his time in jail.
If Clarke decides to deport him, al-Faisal will be able to appeal and live
freely in Britain on bail while his case runs its course. The Home Office
declined to comment on the specifics of the case yesterday.
Al-Faisal was born William Forest to a Salvation Army family in Jamaica and
studied religion in Saudi Arabia before coming to Britain in the early
1990s. He lived in Stratford, east London, with his wife and five children
before his arrest.
Through his “study circle” tours of Britain he came into contact with other
prominent extremists. He is a close ally of the radical cleric Abu Hamza,
who was jailed for seven years on Tuesday for soliciting murder and inciting
racial hatred. Hamza was called to testify as a defence witness in
al-Faisal’s trial and has shared a speaking platform with him.
He is alleged to have been close to Earnest James Ujaama, who was jailed in
America for two years after confessing his role in setting up an Al-Qaeda
training camp, allegedly with Hamza, in Oregon. Like Khan, Ujaama asked
questions at al-Faisal’s lectures in Britain.
The cleric also preached in Tipton in the West Midlands. It is claimed that he
may have helped to radicalise the so-called “Tipton terrorist” Munir Ali who
travelled to Afghanistan and has subsequently disappeared.
Al-Faisal preached as well at a mosque in Brixton, south London, that was once
attended by Richard Reid, the shoe bomber, and Zacarias Moussaoui, who is on
trial in America facing allegations that he was the “20th hijacker” in the
September 11 attacks.
Last week al-Faisal’s videos were still being circulated in Islamic
communities, including Beeston. Anhar Gani, a community youth worker who
knew the bombers and said he hoped they were “in heaven”, offered to lend
some tapes to our undercover reporter.
Many of them have recently been reproduced as DVDs by Amar Iqbal, a Muslim
activist from Ashton-under-Lyne, near Manchester. On Friday he said he only
sold copies of al-Faisal sermons that were legal.
The Sunday Times was able to buy several from Rolex Books, a specialist
Islamic bookshop in Rusholme, Manchester. Atif Darr, the shop’s joint owner,
said there were plans to take over distribution of the DVDs when al-Faisal
is released from prison.
The DVDs bought this week have covers with images such as atomic explosions
and smoke rising from the White House. In one entitled Ideological Warfare,
al-Faisal claims “unbelievers have tried to wipe Muslims off the face of the
world” and tells the audience: “Christians and Jews will never accept you
until you follow their evil and corrupted way of life.”
In another entitled Signs Before the Day of Judgment, he proclaims that
British law was “put together by the henchmen of Satan, people who are gays
and devil worshippers”.
The Sunday Times undercover operation in Beeston found that radical views had
not subsided in the months after the London bombings. Many Muslims,
particularly younger men, expressed admiration for the bombers’ “martyrdom”.
Confronted by The Sunday Times yesterday, Ali denied praising the bombers.
When asked whether he believed that their actions were good, he said: “I
don’t know what they died for, that’s what I said . . . According to our
faith, everything depends on what their intention is. I don’t know what
their intention is.”
Insight: Ali Hussain, Jonathan Calvert, Gareth Walsh
