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September 23, 2006

UK: Muslims Distance Themselves From Abu Izzadeen

We wrote of the outbursts made during a speech from the UK Home Secretary John Reid. The minister's address to Muslim parents took place on Wednesday September 20 in Leytonstone, northeast London. The heckler was Abu Izzadeen (pictured), former leader of the Saved/Saviour Sect and also its partner group Al Ghurabaa. Both these groups weere outlawed by John Reid in July.

Izzadeen (real name Omar Brooks) fulminated against the minister, saying "How dare you come to a Muslim area?" Leytonstone has not been traditionally seen as a "Muslim area". In the 1980s it was a place where people from Hackney generally took advantage of low house prices to buy their first homes. Leytonstone has Muslims, but it cannot truly be called a "Muslim area".

Izzadeen is a convert to Islam. Born in Hackney, he came from a Jamaican Christian family, and became involved with extremist Islam at the age of 17. He told the BBC after the bombings of 7/7 last year: "Osama bin Laden, excuse me, Sheikh Osama bin Laden, he offered to the British public, and the European people at large, an offer of ceasefire. He said that if they rose up against their governments, brought their troops home, he promised not to attack them. But unfortunately the stiff upper British lip became hardheaded, and we saw what took place on 7 July."

In January 2001, eight months before 9/11, he was filmed in an East Ham park stating: "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?"

Izzadeen has bought into the Muslim notion of being victims, and as victims he believes Muslims should be aggressive towards their imagined oppressors, even if these include innocent civilians, such as those who were killed last year on London Transport.

He said three weeks after the London bombings, in which 52 people died and hundreds were maimed and injured: "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."

"I believe many people say you shouldn't negotiate with terrorists. It's a common theme, put in the media. But I'm sure, if you asked those who passed away on the 7th of July, should we negotiate with terr- Osama bin Laden, I'm sure they'd say 'Yes'. To bring their lives back, to save themselves from the burning inferno underground, they would have said, 'Let's negotiate'."

He said last year that "There's always a clash of civilisations, there's always a clash of ideals. And because Islam is not written by a man, I can't change it. But because democracy's written by a man, they can change it to accommodate the Muslims. I'm born here. I have the right to call for Islam, wherever I am. And that's a problem for the British society and establishment; that the community here, the new generation of Muslims, are born in the UK. We have a British passport, and British citizenship but our allegiance is only to Islam."

He spoke of Sharia law last year: "If the British public don't like Shariah, it's going to be over their noses, whether they like it or not. It's going to be over Tony Blair's nose and George Bush's nose as well - and for your information - the British government knows that...That's why they're so terrified of Islamists. I don't believe in freedom. Because freedom's an absolute term. And your freedom encroaches on my freedom. We don't believe in freedom as Muslims. We believe we are, and every action is, restricted with the Shariah rules.....You don't want to live in a Shariah? Well, when it comes, I'm sure you'll change your mind!"

Five days before 7/7, Abu Izzadeen had addressed his followers of the Saviour Sect. On Saturday, 2 July, he said it was imperative to "instil terror into the hearts of the kuffar", adding "I am a terrorist. As a Muslim of course I am a terrorist." He said: "I want to be blown into pieces with my hands in one place and my feet in another." He claimed that he did not want to die in his bed "like an old woman".

Izzadeen, while a member of Al Muhajiroun, had previously subjected the odious George Galloway to some of his extreme heckling, which made Galloway visibly scared.

On Wednesday, John Reid was not subjected to the level of verbal assaults Galloway faced, and continued his speech calmly, with no sign of being flustered. He was accompanied in the crowd at Leytonstone by a small boy. When Izzaadeen had been escorted out, another individual dressed in white robes began waving a poster at the back of the meeting. The words read "John Reid go to Hell." The protester then began to chant repeatedly: "Enemy of Islam and the Muslims. Free the hostages", until he too was ejected.

Then Izzadeen's associate Anjem Choudary continued to protest, but in a more restrained manner, which did not lead to him being escorted out of the building. He said; "Muslims have their own set of values - they do not need British values. We believe Islam is superior; we believe Islam will be implemented one day. It is very rich for you to come here and say we need to monitor our children when your Government is murdering."

Last Sunday, Choudary had led a group of Islamists in a protest outside Westminster Cathedral in London, while mass was taking place. Choudary had said: "The Muslims take their religion very seriously and non-Muslims must appreciate that and that must also understand that there may be serious consequences if you insult Islam and the prophet. Whoever insults the message of Mohammed is going to be subject to capital punishment....I am here to have a peaceful demonstration. But there may be people in Italy or other parts of the world who would carry that out. I think that warning needs to be understood by all people who want to insult Islam and want to insult the prophet of Islam."

Izzadeen and Choudary were both members of Al Muhajiroun, which was "spiritually led" by Omar Bakri Mohammed who lived in Britain for 20 years, funded by the taxpayer, before fleeing to Lebanon last year. Al Muhajiroun, which was involved in supporting terrorism, may have been responsible for introducing two British suicide bombers to Hamas operatives in Israel in 2003. The result of this meeting was the deaths of three people and the wounding of sixty others in Mike's Bar, Tel Aviv.

The groups calling themselves the Saviour Sect, which then changed its name to the Saved Sect, and Al Ghurabaa shared the same members, many of whom were previously members of Al Muhajiroun. The changes of name were only ploys to stop their groups becoming outlawed. In November last year, Choudary, Izzadeen and others launched a new group, which calls itself Ahlus Sunnah wal Jamaah. The renaming of groups is to keep one step ahead of the law. It is a tactic used by Hizb ut-Tahrir, which similarly wishes to establish a "Caliphate" and despises democracy. It is no coincidence that the first leader of Hizb ut-Tahrir in Britain was Omar Bakri Mohammed.

The Saviour Sect (later renamed the Saved Sect) and its associate Al Ghurabaa had been formed in November 2004, when Al Muhajiroun came under close scrutiny. The recent media-reported appearances of Abu Izzadeen and Anjem Choudary are designed to prove to their potential supporters that no matter how many laws are passed to ban their groups by name, they will remain.

The Saviour Sect et alia believe that it is better to let the state that they seek to destroy subsidise them, so many live off welfare, justifying that their so-called prophet lived "off the state" while simultaneously attacking it. Their spiritual leader, Omar Bakri Moammed had lived off the British state's hand-outs for 18 years before he fled the country.

Last July, at a meeting held in Debden House on the edge of Epping Forest, the Saviour Sect held a meeting. Here Choudary explained his role to Bakri. The Sheikh was talking of how their group should recruit people without family ties, saying: "People got big mouths. That's why the link to the family is not going to help. These people should be completely rootless. That's why Sheikh Osama, he build all people young. He train the youth." He said that people would be looking at their group as potential suspects, involved in the 7/7 attacks and the failed attacks which happened on July 21, a few days previously.

Choudary responded: "Sheikh, they're looking for the planners and the eggers-on. We fall into the later (sic) category. We're not planning anything."

Following the appearance of Izzadeen and Choudary during John Reid's speech in Leytonstone, it is becoming increasingly clear that, as well as wishing to instill fear in the general populace, they are exploiting the publicity they receive on national TV to be the "eggers-on" of young Muslims to follow their ideology. They heckle a politician, and their preaching is recorded by news outlets. Choudary and a bunch of thugs intimate Catholic church-goers at Westminster, and his "preaching" and "politics" receives the publicity it has lacked since their official groups were disbanded and their websites were closed down.

Two days after the outburst at Leytonstone, Abu Izzadeen was invited to talk on the BBC's influential Radio 4 show, Today. Izzadeen's speech was inflammatory, and became another opportunity for him to preach his doctrine of jihad and sharia being superior to democracy and Western values. Izzadeen was set against the BBC radio rottweiler, Welshman John Humphrys, who said at one point: "If this country is so offensive to you...you don't have to stay here you can go somewhere where there is Islamic law."

The transcript of the full interview can be found below. Although Humphrys was challenging everything Izzadeen said, the giving of airtime to a sworn enemy of democracy at 8.10 am in the morning was too much for many people, and the BBC has since come under criticism.

Some of the criticisms are reported in The Sun, IC Wales, the Scotsman and Qatar's The Peninsula.

There were voices of praise for Humphrys' skilled handling of Izzadeen, whose tactics of physical intimidation do not come over too well on radio. Humphrys was steady, asked searching questions, and did not let Izzadeen say anything without countering it with a pithy comment or question.

However, by allowing the oxygen of publicity to inflate Izzadeen's profile, the BBC has even been criticised by the Muslim Council for Britain. Inayat Bunglawala, press officer of the MCB, described Izzadeen (aka Omar Brooks) as a "thug". Bunglawala said: "We have received phone call after phone call from moderate Muslims who are appalled that the Today programme gave such an utterly marginal figure this prime-time spot to spout his bile almost interrupted."

"There was no attempt to balance the interview or challenge his views by having a mainstream Muslim view featured. This really plays into the hands of those who oppose Muslims. People are very upset about this misrepresentation of Islam."

"On this slot you would normally expect a leading figure of the land to come on. This was clearly designed to get maximum publicity, and the Today programme and its editors must think long and hard about what they are doing to community relations and cohesion.'

Bunglawala is being disingenuous here when he talks of the "misrepresentation" of Islam. Izzadeen, though his tactics are anathema to the MCB and other so-called "moderates", is still promoting a very clear concept of Islam, which has not been watered down for public consumption. Izzadeen and Anjem Choudary stick to a "pure" reading of Islam, not tainted by compromise.

Labour MP Andrew Dismore said: "I wish the media wouldn't give people like this the oxygen of publicity. Police need to take more active steps to deal with him."

But Dismore may be relieved to know that today, the Mirror newspaper has announced that Izzadeen is being investigated by terror police. Special Branch officers are examining the transcripts of Izzadeen's altercations with Home Secretary John Reid, as well as other documentation of his stated viewpoints.

A source within Special Branch told the Mirror: "We're looking very closely at what he has said. There have been complaints that his remarks may even be incitement to murder. A lot of people think he should be charged. We're talking to the Crown Prosecution Service to see what actions are open to us."

A full transcript of the BBC Today show's interview, featuring John Humphrys and Abu Izzadeen, can be found below.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at September 23, 2006 7:19 PM

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Posted by: Sir Henry Morgan at September 24, 2006 6:59 AM

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