This item is available on the Militant Islam Monitor website, at http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/2283
August 22, 2006
Saudi-born dissident living in Britain is making a mockery of new laws supposed to outlaw the glorification of terrorism.
Dr Muhammed Al-Massari has been posting declarations on his website praising suicide bombings in Iraq for several years. The 59-year-old also boasted: "If you kill our civilians, we kill your civilians."
That's despite new laws being passed earlier this year making it a crime to glorify or incite terrorism anywhere in the world. And so far no police action has been taken against him.
Shadow Minister for Homeland Security, Patrick Mercer, said: "This should come as no surprise. Twelve months after Tony Blair's much-vaunted twelve-point terror plan all we have had is spin, but no action. "It is about time the Government started using the powers the have available to deal with individuals like this.
"The problem is not a lack of legislation, but a lack of Government spine to use this legislation to address the problem."
Al-Massari, who lives on benefits in Wembley, North London, has said it would be legitimate for Muslims to assassinate Tony Blair. He has been repeatedly condemned for running a website which has shown videos of suicide bombings and beheadings in Iraq, including footage of the deaths of British soldiers.
But the Government's new terror laws, passed as part of the controversial 2006 Terrorism Act, were intended to stop Al-Massari and other extremists from operating in public. The New York Times newspaper said Al-Massari was continuing to post extremist material on the website tajdeed.org,uk, which is in Arabic.
Last week, the Council of Holy Warriors, a group affiliated with al Qaeda, posted a declaration on the site praising a suicide bombing in Iraq that killed or wounded 55 people.
The posting on his web site said: "We ask God to accept our brothers as martyrs."
Al-Massari said he approved of violence against British and American soldiers in Iraq, as well as against most of the governments in the Middle East. He said that it "is legitimate for Iraqis to kill Tony Blair, the same with Bush." In yet another blow to the Government's credibility in the 'war on terror', the New York Times said Al-Massari was proof that British law 'has not silenced calls to kill for Islam'. It quoted other rants which continue to be made in the UK, including an incendiary speech before 8,000 followers in Manchester by Palestinian-born academic Azam Tamimi.
Dr Tamimi, an Islamic scholar, told an Islamic conference: "The greatest act of martyrdom is standing up for that is true and just. Martyrs are those who stand up in defiance of George Bush and Tony Blair."
Al-Massari, who has been granted refugee status by the Government, is known for choosing his remarks carefully, and does not advocate the use of violence in Britain.
He makes several distinctions that he says insulate him from being deported or prosecuted by the government. He says that he does not post any material on the website himself, he lets his members do that, most of whom sign up anonymously.
In 2004, he told the Sunday Times: "I am telling you (British soldiers in Iraq) are legitimate targets for the Iraqi people they are invaders, nobody invited them, they came by force and if we live long enough, we'll see them running out. Wait and see."
This item is available on the Militant Islam Monitor website, at http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/2283