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April 24, 2006

UK Islam: Faces of Fanaticism Part Three

This is an occasional series, which will eventually be compiled into a Special Report. In Faces of Fanaticism Part One we described Abu Hamza, the hook-handed cleric now imprisoned in Belmarsh jail. In Part Two we discussed the life and activities of 42-year old Abdullah al-Faisal, a Jamaican born convert, formerly called Trevor William Forest. He was convicted on 24 February 2003 on three counts of racial incitement and three of "soliciting murder" and sentenced to seven years in jail.

The subject of our third profile is Abu Izzadeen (pictured), another convert of Jamaican origin, who features in our Special Report on the Saviour Sect. That report comprised mainly a transcript of a programme broadcast on the BBC's Newsnight on Monday August 1, 2005, a mere three weeks after the July 7 bombings on London Transport, which killed 52 people and injured hundreds.

Abu Izzadeen's response to the 7/7 attacks, or "martyrdom operations" shocked the country and also the United States when edited excerpts were aired. The documentary led to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) making attempts to be given the unseen footage taken by the BBC. At that time, Abu Izzadeen was a spokesperson for the group Al Ghurabaa which was then tied closely with the Saviour Sect. So far, Crown Prosecution Service still has not made a decision to prosecute Abu Izzadeen. The Times today said that charges "may include solicitation to murder and withholding information about acts of terrorism".

The Saviour Sect and Al Ghurabaa were directly descended from Al Muhajiroun, the Islamist group formerly led by Omar Bakri Mohammed. Izzadeen was interviewed by Richard Watson. This is an excerpt:

RW: "Are you willing to denounce, right now, the London bombings which killed so many people?"
AI:"No".
RW: "Why not?"
AI: "I would never denounce Muslims".
RW: "This was murder"
AI: "No. Mujahadin activity."
RW: "It's murder. Innocent people have died."
AI: "I'm sorry- when you bomb Muslims in Afghanistan, and I saw houses....I saw women and children murdered, on a huge scale. Not fifty, there was carpet bombing in Afghanistan. Nobody called for the denounciation (sic) for the murder of Muslims."
RW: "People like you, with the views you hold, you're vulnerable to becoming suicide bombers. What do you say about that?"
AI: "Vulnerability, I believe it's a weakness as long as understanding. What would I say about those who do suicide operations - or martyrdom operations - 'cause suicide is a term coined by the media - they're completely praiseworthy. Martyrdom operations are commonplace - fifteen every day in Iraq ag-"
RW: "Not in Britain."
AI: "Against the British and Americans every day in Afghanistan, all around the world, in Palestine. So it's not something that's unusual. What's shocking, for many, is that it took place on their own doorsteps. But hopefully, that will make many, wake up, and smell the coffee...

The BBC showed film of Abu Izzadeen, taken in January 2001, when he had his face wrapped and covered by an Arab headscarf. He said: "Because I believe America is one of the places where we should be bombing those...er, the Government. There are some Muslims that go to America, because obviously, you know, like firearms is available inside America, to be trained legally. So why not take that opportunity to use, the heart of the enemy that's attacking us."

The following weekend after this broadcast, on August 7 the Sunday Times produced an undercover report of life inside the Saviour Sect, in which it revealed the true identity of Abu Izzadeen as Omar Brooks, a former electrician.

The Saviour Sect and its sister organisation Al Ghurabaa urge followers to shun voting and democracy, but also urge them to claim state welfare benefit. The article reported how individuals within the group who were deemed to be too moderate were beaten up in the street, with the approval of their then "spiritual leader" Omar Bakri Mohammed.

Abu Izzadeen, aka Omar Brooks told his followers at a meeting on July 2, five days before the London suicide attacks, that they had to "instil terror into the hearts of the kuffar" adding: "I am a terrorist. As a Muslim of course I am a terrorist."

He also claimed to his supporters that he did not want to go to Allah while asleep in his bed "like an old woman," He had more dramatic ideas in mind. "I want to be blown into pieces with my hands in one place and my feet in another."

The Sunday Times from today, April 24 reports that Abu Izzadeen is now the head of the Saviour Sect, which also goes under the alternative title of the Saved Sect. Currently, the related group, Al Ghurabaa (meaning "the strangers") is Anjem Choudary. The spiritual leader of the group, Omar Bakri Mohammed, was prevented from re-entry to Britain last year, when he traveled to Syria to visit his mother. He is now living in Lebanon, where he is attempting to start a madrassa.

Izzadeen/Brooks is 31, and was born in Hackney, east London into a Jamaican Christian family. He became a convert to Islam aged 17, and met Omar Bakri Mohammed in the late 1990s. He claims to have traveled to Pakistan, to attend a jihadist training camp. Currently he lives in Leyton, east London, with a wife and three children.

His new name "Izzadeen" means "Might of the Faith". The Times has obtained transcripts of tapes made of recent sermons, in which Izzadeen discusses killing Tony Blair.

In these sermons, given last month, Izzadeen repeats claims he made in July last year, when he called for Sharia law in Britain. He said "all Jews and Christians are going to hell fire." He also praised Mullah Omar, leader of the Taliban, calling him a "winner", ignoring the fact that he is in hiding. He spoke of the current Iraq situation as a Christian crusade.

He stated: "There is a war here. Maybe you don't have weapons, but there is arrests against the Muslim community, there is brutality by the police. It is a form of war against the Muslims here as well.....If I said to you we're going to conquer Rome, or if I said to you, we're going to kill George Bush and we're going to kill Tony Blair, you said to me:'Which come first bro?'" This brought a laugh from his audience.

He said: "Tony Blair is a taghoot (believer of false religions). The British forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, the police in the UK - they are all fighting for the sake of taghoot."

The Saved sect has a website. We noted on January 21 that the group had used the site to issue a fatwa against George Galloway. In the Newsnight documentary from last year, there is film of George Galloway in fear, being physically threatened and taunted by the distinctive voice of Abu Izzadeen.

The following are statements from the website of the Saved Sect:

On the Muslim Council for Britain, referring to their disapproval of the February 3 calls for beheadings in an anti-cartoon protest: "The call of moderate and apostate 'Muslims' upon the Metropolitan Police to take action and arrest the 'extremists' behind the peaceful protests in central London was indeed a call of apostasy and betrayal."

On Christ, who is supposed to be a prophet of Islam: "We can envisage that, if alive in the UK today, Jesus would undoubtedly have supported jihad in Afghanistan and Iraq, as opposed to the capitalist-driven US-led alliance...and would also have been no doubt interned under the Home Secretary Mr Clarke's new terrorism laws, thereby languishing in Belmarsh Prison."

On homosexuals: "Sodomy, bestiality and incest are all crimes that are acceptable in un-Islamic societies....Recently the British government legalised homosexual marriages. It was not enough that they allowed homosexuals to practice their vile filth openly, but they felt the need to take a step further into the pits of humanity."

On mosques: "If we look to the reality of the so-called mosques in the Britain today, hardly any are built by Muslims...therefore, they cannot be considered to be mosques. These halls have become places of corruption, calling Muslims to vote, inviting kuffar MPs and prime ministers, as well as lying about Allah, His Messenger and the religion of Islam. It is even considered to be a form of heresy to call these places Houses of Allah."

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at April 24, 2006 11:39 PM

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