Will UK police permit terrorism linked Hizb ut Tahrir Muslim Unity Conference to take place on August 7th?

This item is available on the Militant Islam Monitor website, at http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/852

Will UK police permit terrorism linked Hizb ut Tahrir Muslim Unity Conference to take place on August 7th?

July 22, 2005

MIM: Hizb ut Tahrir is one of the most radical groups operating in the world today and is an offshoot of Al Muhajiroun, whose leader Omar Bakri Mohammed broke away from HT to form what became AM. To permit Hizb ut Tahrir to hold a conference openly calling for the implementation of the Khalifate in the world is a travesty on the war on terror and will only attract those who will follow in the footsteps of the London bombers.

Dr Imran Waheed, the Representative of Hizb ut-Tahrir Britain, will speak at the Muslim Unity Convention on Sunday 7th August 2005. Other renowned international speakers at the event include Dr Zakir Naik, Imam Siraj Wahhaj, Shaikh Abdullah Hakim Quick and Shaykh Muhammad bin Yahya al Ninowy, amongst other esteemed guests.

Tickets are fast selling out for this event and brothers and sisters are urged to purchase tickets quickly. For further details about the convention please visit www.ramadhanfoundation.com or
book tickets online at:
http://www.thebeyondgroup.co.uk/unity/

MIM: An op -ed on the 1924.org website is entitled "It's the Caliphate,stupid!"

http://www.1924.org/opinion/index.php?id=2071_0_34_0_M

It's the word that politicians dare not publicly mention for several decades in the hope it was dead and buried in 1924.

Yet the issue has now emerged explicitly such that it is impossible not to mention it. Earlier this year a CIA think tank predicted the re-emergence of the Caliphate by 2020. Then on Saturday 16th July 2005 Tony Blair made a speech where he gave his definition of what he thinks are the end aims of what he calls the 'evil ideology' of Islamic extremism.

‘They demand the elimination of Israel; the withdrawal of all Westerners from Muslim countries, irrespective of the wishes of people and government; the establishment of effectively Taleban states and Sharia law in the Arab world en route to one caliphate of all Muslim nations.'

This has been the most open declaration so far that the War on Terror is a war to prevent the reestablishment of the Khilafah (the Caliphate). Hitherto, there has only been deceptive language about terrorism, WMD, and 'talebanisation'.

Yet he deceives the public because he will not say, and perhaps he has shut his mind to the fact, that the Caliphate is not simply the desire and aspiration of jihadi groups. Ask a Muslim who follows a Sufi Tareeqa if he or she wants to see the re-emergence of Khilafah Rashida and you may see tears of hope in their eyes. Muslims from the so called conservative brands of Islam in the Arabian Peninsula to the 'tiger economy' regions of Malaysia & Indonesia dream of the return of Khilafah. To reject this fact is to deny the obvious. Most, simply pray for its return; some try to work for it through existing systems; a small number think that fighting the existing oppressive rule is the way to see it established. But the largest group internationally works by non-violent political work to change the existing system via thought and opinion.

We ask all Muslims to express their positive views for Khilafah to all the people they meet so that a false impression does not get presented to the wider society that somehow Khilafah Rashida is associated with the negative stereotypes Blair hopes to associate with it. To desire Khilafah is not backward, extremist or terrorist.

It is the legitimate aspiration of the Muslim world for its own governance, sadly denied and obstructed by western governments and the puppet regimes they create and support. Many non Muslims are beginning to realise the injustice of their own government's foreign policy and we can lead the way in articulating clearer arguments.

It is not just about Palestine or Iraq, it is about the right of the Muslim world to govern itself in the way it wants, in a desire to please Allah. We pray all people must send a vocal message to Western colonial governments that their efforts to prevent this will only perpetuate misery, instability and insecurity in the whole world.

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http://www.homelandsecurity.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=Intel&file=index&view=649

Location:
London, United Kingdom

Nature of Advisory/Report:
The Landscape of Islamic Extremism in London:
Possible Players in the Attacks of July 7, 2005 (Terrorist Incident)

London has long had a vibrant, productive Islamic extremist scene, run by individuals who have links to al-Qaeda (Group Profile) and terrorist activities around the world. Only one of the men featured on this list, Abu Qatada, is in jail. The groups referenced below espouse extremist ideologies, but they operate legally. The men in charge of the world of Islamic extremism in Britain (Country Profile) may not have been directly planning or carrying out preparations for the attacks, but it is unlikely that something of this magnitude could happen without at least one of these "Godfathers" having prior knowledge, inciting -- even ordering -- the attack, or helping out in some other way.

This document will be updated as more individuals, groups, connections and details are uncovered...

Saad al-Faqih
Known Connections: Osama bin Laden
Al-Qaeda

On December 21, 2004 the US Treasury Department designated Saad Rashed Mohammad al-Faqih as a provider of material and financial support to al-Qaeda and Osama bin Ladin. Al-Faqih developed connections with al-Qaeda in the mid-1990s. Specifically, al-Faqih has maintained connections with both bin Ladin and Khaled al-Fawwaz, who was known to act as bin Ladin's representative in the UK. According to US government sources, al-Faqih and al Fawwaz shared an office in the late 1990s. Al-Fawwaz was arrested by British authorities and extradited to the United States following the 1998 African Embassy bombings (Terrorist Incident and Terrorist Incident). Moreover, during the African Embassy bombings trial, US government prosecutors provided evidence that al-Faqih paid for a satellite phone that al-Fawwaz passed on to OBL, who allegedly used it to help carry out the attacks.

Al-Faqih is also the head of the Islamic non-governmental organization the Movement for Reform in Arabia (MIRA). The MIRA Web site, which is run by al-Faqih, can be found at http://www.islahi.net/. Extremist use this site to provide ideological and financial support to al-Qaeda operatives and potential recruits.

Omar Mohammed Bakri
Known Connections: Al-Muhajiroun (Group Profile forthcoming)
Hizb al-Tahrir
Hamas (Group Profile)
Egyptian Islamic Jihad
Bakri was born in 1958 in Aleppo, Syria. He studied at Cairo's al-Azhar University. After completing his studies, he settled in Saudi Arabia (Country Profile Group Profile), and Saudi Arabia, Bakri fostered links with the Muslim Brotherhood (Group Profile) and Hizb ut-Tahrir. While in Saudi Arabia, Bakri founded al-Muhajiroun, as a front for Hizb ut-Tahrir in Saudi Arabia. In 1996, Bakri was expelled from Saudi Arabia. He then settled in Britain where he split from Hizb ut-Tahrir after having a disagreement with the group's leaders. After splintering off from Hizb ut-Tahrir, Bakri found al-Muhajiroun in London on February 16, 1996. In 2004, Bakri said that attacks in Britain would be justified in revenge for the Iraqi occupation.

Al-Muhajiroun has embraced Hizb ut-Tahrir ideology that advocates the return of the Caliphate. While Hizb ut-Tahrir has embraced a lower profile, al-Muhajiroun has taken a more public stance in recruiting and in propaganda dissemination throughout Britain. Bakri, through al-Muhajiroun, has claimed to have provided physical, financial, and recruiting support to Hamas, Egyptian Islamic Jihad, Hizbollah (Group Profile). Bakri has also claimed to have communicated with Osama bin Ladin and endorse bin Ladin brand of Salafi jihadist ideology, saying in an interview with CNSNews.com, "we have ideological links with the world Islamic movement, including Osama bin Ladin."

Bakri also maintains that the global Islamic revolution must begin in the United Kingdom. Bakri was quoted as saying that he "lusts for the establishment of a global Islamic regime called Al-Khilafa, starting here in the UK." Speaking about attacks against British soldiers in Iraq, Bakri stated: "If an Iraqi Muslim carried out an attack like that in Britain, it would be justified because Britain has carried out acts of terrorism in Iraq."

Al-Muhajiroun
Bakri's more radical splinter group formed form Hizb al-Tahrir. In 2003, two al-Muhajiroun members traveled to Tel Aviv, Israel, and carried out the bombing of a café called "Mike's Place" (Terrorist Incident).

Known Members:
Omar Bakri (founder)
Farid Kasim (co-founder)
Anjem Choudary (spokesman, chairman of Society of Muslim Lawyers)
Abdul Rahman Saleem (aka Abu Yahya, involved in recruiting)
Iftikhar Ali (senior member, organizer of training)
Sulayman Zain-ul-Abidin (aka Frank Etim/Etab, deceased)
Sulayman Keeler (member of the National Daw'ah Committee of al-Muhajroun, currently in prision)
Amer Mirza (served prison term for bombing an army base in west London as a protest against the British military action against Iraq)

Known Connections:
Abu Hamza al-Masri
Abu Qatada: spoken at Al- Muhajiroun events with both Bakri and Hamza
Yasser al-Sirri: Bakri and Sirri have shared platforms on numerous occasions at public events in London and have openly supported each others causes.
Zahid ur-Rashdi: spoken at al-Mujahiroun events

Hizb al-Tahrir:
Known Connections: Omar Bakri
Islamic extremist group that operates legally in London, despite being banned in Germany. A radical Islamic group that has walked a fine line in its activities in order to remain legal in the UK. However, group members who care less about maintaining legal status in Britain than about acting on the group's beliefs may have broken off and formed more extremist splinter groups. An example of this is Omar Bakri's al-Muhajiroun, members of which traveled to Israel to carry out a suicide bombing at a Tel Aviv café.

Further, the day after the London bombings, Hizb al-Tahrir posted a letter on their Web site – not to condemn the bombings, but to urge British Muslims to be strong in the face of an anticipated backlash (letter here). The letter accuses world leaders of taking advantage of the London attacks "to justify their ‘war on terror.'"

Zahid ur-Rashdi
Former Pakistani Member of Parliament and head of the Shariah Council of Pakistan, ur-Rashdi believed that he and other Pakistani Islamists maintained contact with the late Mullah Mohammed Omar, the Taliban (Group Profile) leader, Ur-Rashdi has been a guest speaker at a number of Al Muhajiroun's important events in London, including the Trafalgar Square rally on August 3, 1997 entitled ‘Islam Against Oppression.' In July 1999, he spoke at an Al- Muhajiroun rally in Trafalgar Square entitled ‘Islam III.' Ur-Rashdi is believed to be the head of the Pakistani end of a jihad recruitment and fundraising network called The Global Jihad Fund.

Dr. Mohammed al-Masaari
Known Connections: Saudi Arabian Hizbollah
Al-Mujahiroun
Omar Bakri
Masaari is originally from Saudi Arabia. He is a co-founder of an Islamist organization in the UK, the Committee for Defence of Legitimate Right. He is known to have been a member of Hizb al-Tahrir in Saudi Arabia, along with Bakri. Masaari is a central figure in al-Muhajiroun activities and has been a lecturer at Bakri's School of Sharia.

Masaari was a member of Saudi Hizbollah, the group that, either on Bin Laden's order or inspired by him, carried out the 1996 attack against US servicemen in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia (Terrorist Incident.

Mohammed Suheil
Suheil is a computer expert about whom little is known. He is an aide to Omar Bakri and a member of al-Muhajiroun, and he is also a close associate of Mohammed al-Masaari. He founded the radical Web site Islamic Gateway and also the Muslim Hacker's Club.

Abu Hamza
Aka Mustapha Kamil
Known Connections: Al-Qaeda
Zacarias Moussaoui
Richard Reid
Omar Bakri
Yemeni terrorists
Abu Hamza is a radical preacher whose mosque in Finsbury Park, London, has become infamous for its sermons that aim to incite Muslims to violence and recruitment of terrorists for al-Qaeda. British officials say that 4,000 British Muslims were recruited by Abu Hamza and sent to Jihad training camps in Afghanistan over a period of years. Both the shoe bomber Richard Reid (Terrorist Incident) and Zacarias Moussaoui (the alleged "20th hijacker") were followers. Abu Hamza and Omar Bakri have a professional relationship as the two big radical Islamist preachers in London after Abu Qatada was jailed in 2002. They spoke together at Islamist rallies organized by al-Muhajiroun.

Abu Hamza has delivered sermons blessing the 9/11 hijackers and calling for more such attacks. In an effort to reach out to the African American Muslim community in the United States, Abu Hamza recruited Black Panthers' founder H. Rap Brown, now Jamal Abdullah al-Amin. Authorities are investigating what Brown was recruited for. He recruited James Ujaama, an American Muslim convert, to open Jihadist training camps in Alabama and Oregon, and to plot to carry out attacks in the US, including plots to poison US water supplies. Yemeni authorities linked him to the abduction of western tourists in Yemen in 1998 (Terrorist Incident).

Finally, Abu Hamza was arrested at US behest in 2004. His chief aides remain free, as do a son and stepson who were jailed briefly in Yemen for plotting terrorist attacks there against British targets, as do the members of various Islamist organizations he helped build and that operate legally in Britain. It is possible for him to have been involved via a large community of underlings, followers, aides, and family members, to include his son and stepson.

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Militant groups in the UK

Audrey Gillan
Wednesday June 19, 2002
http://www.guardian.co.uk/print/0,3858,4436383-103602,00.html

Guardian

Al-Muhajiroun
Leader: Self-styled Sheikh Omar Bakri Mohammed
Membership: Refused to reveal numbers

One of the largest Islamist parties in Britain. The organisation is banned from campuses of many British universities which it uses as a fertile recruiting ground.

Formed after a breakaway from Hizb ut-Tahrir, Al-Muhajiroun ("The Emigrants") has one purpose, establishing the Islamic state. Its members are regularly seen with loudhailers exhorting mainstream Muslims and non-believers to embrace their particular brand of fundamentalism, which calls for those practising homosexuality, adultery, fornication and bestiality to be stoned to death.

It now denies that it recruits for jihad but it boasted of this before September 11. Bakri Mohammed said of the al-Qaida attacks on the US embassies in Dar-as-Salaam and Nairobi: "We would not carry out terrorist activity ourselves, but we endorse the use of violence. Bin Laden is a hero to all Muslims." He adds: "I want Britain to become an Islamic state. I want to see the flag of Islam raised in 10 Downing Street."

Hizbut-Tahrir
Leader: Jalal Uddin Patel, little known
Membership: Refused to reveal numbers

Another hardline organisation, though with worldwide tentacles, this group is opposed to cooperation with any existing governments. Like other hardline groups, its main purpose is to re-establish the Caliphate, the period of unification following the death of Mohammed in 632. Most radical Islamist movements believe that this was the one true Muslim society. The organisation which once said "the only place to meet Jews is on the battlefield" recently issued a statement saying it is far less militant than it once was: "We wish to point out once again that Hizb ut-Tahrir has no relationship whatsoever with any violent, terrorist or sectarian organisation and nor does the party engage in violent or sectarian actions."

Supporters of Sharia
Leader: Self-styled Sheikh Abu Hamza
Membership: Thought to be 200 at most

Associated closely with Finsbury Park mosque in north London, the Supporters of Sharia also wish to re-establish the Caliphate. Abu Hamza was named in a Yemeni court as the man who sent eight Britons there to carry out terrorist bombings on western targets. Egyptian-born Hamza lost both hands and an eye fighting in Afghanistan.

The SOS website says that "Muslims and non-Muslims are being oppressed throughout the world. SOS is one of the organisations struggling to remove this oppression created by man-made laws."

Abu Hamza and two other men were arrested in March 1999, held under the Prevention of Terrorism Act, but released without charge. Last October he was forced to relinquish control of the Finsbury Park mosque after a legal fight and recently he was banned by the charities commission from speaking at the mosque.

Other key figures:

· Abu Qatada

Abu Qatada, a Muslim cleric, was sentenced to death in absentia in Jordan and is accused by the US, Spain, France and Algeria of being a key influence in the September 11 attacks. Videos of his speeches were found in the Hamburg flat of Mohamed Atta, the hijackers' ringleader. He is now in hiding following the introduction of the government's anti-terrorism laws.

· Abdullah al-Faisal

Awaiting trial after allegations that he urged followers to kill Jews and non-believers. A preacher at two north-west London mosques, if convicted he faces a sentence of up to life imprisonment.

· Abu Doha

An Algerian described by intelligence sources as Osama bin Laden's main man in Britain, he is fighting extradition to the US to face charges that he plotted to bomb Los Angeles airport. A judge said Doha, who has lived in London since 1999, had been at the al-Qaida training camp in Afghanistan and was trained in the use of explosives and assassination. He is also linked to bomb plots in Strasbourg and Paris.

Audrey Gillan
Wednesday June 19, 2002