This item is available on the Militant Islam Monitor website, at http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/3969

Terrorist Group Al- Muhajiroun To Relaunch In UK

June 1, 2009

Terrorist Group Al-Muhajiroun To Relaunch In UK

By BEILA RABINOWITZ and WILLIAM MAYER

June 1, 2009 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - The radical Islamist group Al-Muhajiroun has announced that it plans to relaunch in the UK. The group claimed to have disbanded in 2004. Since then it has periodically resurfaced under various names including the Savior Sect, the Saved Sect, Ahl ul-Sunnah Wa al-Jamma and the Association for Islamic Research [see, http://www.pipelinenews.org/2008/Al-Muhajiroun-Resurfaces-In-London-Under-Guise-Of-Association.html].

Al Muhajiroun founder Omar Bakri Mohammed fled the UK for Lebanon after the July 2005 London bombings which were linked to his organization.

A press release on the website Islam4UK announced that, "However, we would like to declare that after almost 15 years since the establishment of Al-Muhajiroun, and 5 years since its disbandment, Al-Muhajiroun is to be re-launched in the United Kingdom and to resume its activities as normal…We understand and appreciate that there may be many questions and queries regarding the re-establishment of Al-Muhajiroun as an organisation and we kindly request all such queries to be forwarded to the former Ameer of Al-Muhajiroun Sheikh Omar Bakri Muhammad."

A press release issued by the Centre For Social Cohesion, a conservative think tank specializing in the study of Islamic extremism in Britain stated, "al-Muhajiroun is planning to relaunch in the UK. Though the statement is clearly intended to attract media attention to this small and unrepresentative group, there is reason to take al-Muhajiroun very seriously. New CSC research shows that 15% of all those convicted in the UK of terrorism-related offences were either members of, or have known links to, the organisation."

In 2000, al-Muhajiroun claims to have recruited hundreds of young British Muslims to wage jihad in Kashmir, Chechnya and Afghanistan. The organization was banned under Brit terrorism laws. Omar Bakri is believed to still be living in Lebanon where he is suspected to have trained al-Qaeda operatives. http://www.pipelinenews.org/index.cfm?page=muhajirounid=6.1.09%2Ehtm

This item is available on the Militant Islam Monitor website, at http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/3969