Militant Islam Monitor > Articles > Al Muhajiroun Resurfaces in London Under Guise of "Association For Islamic Research"
Al Muhajiroun Resurfaces in London Under Guise of "Association For Islamic Research"
September 15, 2008
Al Muhajiroun Resurfaces In London Under Guise Of "Association For Islamic Research," Ominously Warns Of Another 9/11
By BEILA RABINOWITZ and WILLIAM MAYER
September 15, 2008 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - Al Muhajiroun a nominally defunct UK group once described by terrorism expert Daniel Pipes as, ""the most extremist group operating in the West today," has resurfaced in London, operating under the guise of the Association for Islamic Research
As if their radical credentials needed burnishing, the group is ominously warning of another 9/11 terrorist attack if their demands are not met.
Speaking at a rally in East London marking 9/11 Anjem Choudary the former deputy head of the officially disbanded Al Muhajiroun announced that Muslims would take over the UK by dint of numbers and that, "each one was a time bomb waiting to go off, adding that, "about 500 people in Britain become Muslim every day…It may be by pure conversion that Britain will become an Islamic state. We may never need to conquer it from the outside." [source, http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article1683635.ece]
The rally was advertised as a debate about "whether the West had learned the lessons of 9/11," and attended by about 100 supporters with Omar Bakri [the founder of Al Muhajiroun, who fled the UK for Lebanon after the 7/7 bomb attacks] being webcast live on a screen from his hideout in Lebanon. From his terrorist haven, Bakri declared that "Osama Bin Laden is a legendary person for Muslims round the world."
Several of the 7/7 bombers had ties to Al Muhajiroun and the group was declared "disbanded" and their website disappeared in 2004. After "disbanding" the group Bakri told Muslims to align with al-Qaeda and declare Osama Bin Laden as their leader. Al Muhajiroun later reinvented itself as the Saviour Sect aka The Saved Sect. [see, UK leader of 'disbanded' group declares that, "Muslims are now at war with the government" calls for Jihad."http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/374]
One of the speakers at the rally, Saiful Islam referred to Iraq and Afghanistan, warning the US and Britain, "Wake up. Withdraw. Listen. All of us have a part to play in stopping the violence or the next 9/11 will take place in Britain, the next 7/7 could take place locally."
The event was covered by the Sun newspaper which was asked to hand over their tapes to Scotland Yard. Police planned to determine "if any laws were breached." http://www.pipelinenews.org/index.cfm?page=muhajirounid=9.15.08%2Ehtm
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Call for ban of new Islamic group
A new Islamic organisation with links to the outlawed radical Muslim group Al Muhajiroun is promoting a conference aimed at children, it has emerged.
By Caroline Gammell
Last Updated: 6:00PM BST 19 Sep 2008
The web-based group, Islam4uk, planned the event - entitled Muslim Youth: The Spark of the Fire - to take place in east London tonight.
Among its founders are the radical preacher Omar Bakri Mohammed - who is living in exile in Lebanon - and former solicitor Anjem Choudary, who both played a part in Al Muhajiroun.
Labour MP Andrew Dismore, who called for the prohibition of Al Muhajiroun 10 years ago, said: "The trouble is they just keep re-inventing themselves.
"They are using the internet and Bakri can preach from the web from across the world without fear of being put under a control order or prosecuted."
Referring to the youth conference, Mr Dismore said: "They always target children, that is why the Government has to be vigilant and keep on top of this - we have got to keep bringing them in."
Bakri, who inspired the fertiliser bomb terrorist Omar Khyam, was banned from the UK shortly after the London bombings in 2005.
He helped organise a seminar after the September 11 attacks in favour of the "Magnificent 19" and went on to call the July 7 bombers the "Fantastic Four".
Earlier this week his 25-year-old son Abdul Fostock won the right to claim back more than £14,000 which police confiscated at Heathrow.
He was stopped from boarding a flight to Beirut to visit his father two years with envelopes marked "Daddy; Mum; Sheikh and Spending Money", but Judge David Higgins told police to return the money. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/2990627/Call-for-ban-of-new-Islamic-group.html
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Islamist sect banned as security threat 'is recruiting teenagers'
Robert Mendick, Chief Reporter
19.09.08
The Evening Standard (UK)
A militant Islamic sect banned by the Government as a threat to national security has launched a campaign to radicalise teenagers in east London, the Evening Standard can reveal.
, headed by exiled cleric Omar Bakri Mohammed, tonight begins a recruitment drive targeting young Muslims - despite being outlawed under terror laws introduced in the wake of the 7/7 suicide bomb attacks on London.
Several members of the sect have been jailed in recent years for terror-related offences but there are fears the group is thriving again under a new name.
The group has launched a website, Islam4uk.com.
It is advertising its first youth conference, entitled Muslim Youth: The Spark of the Fire, at a community centre in Walthamstow - close to the homes of six men who face a retrial over a plot to blow up transatlantic airliners. Islam4uk.com is a reincarnation of al-Muhajiroun in all but name. It is headed by Bakri Mohammed, now living in Lebanon, and his deputy Anjem Choudary, its official spokesman.
The two have kept a relatively low profile since the 7 July attacks on London in 2005 but have become emboldened in recent weeks.
The youth conference tonight is being addressed by two notorious extremists, Abu Uzair and Abu Waleed.
Uzair, 40, who was a follower of jailed preacher Abu Hamza at Finsbury Park mosque, sprang to prominence when he praised the 9/11 hijackers as " magnificent" and claimed that if he knew terrorists were planning a suicide attack, he would not alert police.
In an interview with the BBC, Uzair declared: "We don't live in peace with you any more. The banner has been risen for jihad inside the UK, which means it's allowed for bombers to attack."
Waleed, another disciple of Hamza's, was caught on video earlier this year making a joke about Muslims taking backpacks on to the London Underground.
Having laid low for the past three years - since Bakri was forced to live in exile in Lebanon - there is concern al-Muhajiroun is growing in strength.
At a meeting last Thursday - as first reported by the Standard - almost 100 Muslims attended to hear a live video link-up with Bakri.
Andrew Dismore, the Labour MP for Hendon, who first called for al-Muhajiroun to be banned 10 years ago, said today: "This new group needs to be banned. Islam4uk is clearly just another side of the same coin.
"This shows the real difficulty with these splinter groups. The fact they are now getting 100 people to their meetings is very alarming."
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MIM: Omar Bakri threatened Paul McCartney with death if he plays a concert in Israel.
Sir Paul:Terror Target
September 14,2008
By Dennis Rice
The Sunday Express (UK)
http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/61355/We-ll-kill-Sir-Paul-if-he-plays-in-Israel
SIR Paul McCartney has been threatened that he will be the target of suicide bombers unless he abandons plans to play his first concert in Israel.
Self-styled preacher of hate Omar Bakri claimed the former Beatle's decision to take part in the Jewish state's 60th anniversary celebrations had made him an enemy of all Muslims.
Sources said Sir Paul was shocked but refused to be intimidated.
In an interview with Israeli media yesterday he said: "I was approached by different groups and political bodies who asked me not to come here. I refused. I do what I think and I have many friends who support Israel."
Sir Paul, 65, should have gone to Israel with the Beatles in 1965 but they were barred by the Jewish nation's government over fears they would corrupt young people.
Yesterday a number of websites described him as an infidel and suggested he was going to Israel only because of the reported £2.3m fee for the one-off concert.
A message posted on one website said: "Shame on you Paul McCartney for day trippin' to apartheid Israel" and vowed never to buy his music again.
Bakri, who made his weekly internet broadcast to fellow extremists from his home in Lebanon, where he has lived in exile since being banned from returning to Britain, said Sir Paul was "making more enemies than friends".
"If you speak about the holocaust and its authenticity never being proved historically in the way the Jewish community portray it, people will arrest you. People will you say you should not speak like this. Yet they go and celebrate the anniversary of 60 years of what?
"Instead of supporting the people of Palestine in their suffering, McCartney is celebrating the atrocities of the occupiers. The one who is under occupation is supposed to be getting the help.
"And so I believe for Paul McCartney, what he is doing really is creating more enemies than friends."
Explaining his comments, Bakri told the Sunday Express: "Our enemy's friend is our enemy.
"Thus Paul McCartney is the enemy of every Muslim. We have what we call ‘sacrifice' operatives who will not stand by while he joins in a celebration of their oppression.
"If he values his life Mr McCartney must not come to Israel. He will not be safe there. The sacrifice operatives will be waiting for him."
Lawyer Anjem Choudary, who last week chaired a meeting in London at which extremists claimed the next 9/11-style atrocity would be in Britain, said Sir Paul had allowed himself to become a propaganda tool for Israel.
He added: "Muslims have every right to be angry at Paul McCartney. How would the world react if he wanted to have a
concert in occupied Kashmir?
"They would not allow it to happen but because it is Israel he can play. A country which, as the celebration indicates did not exist 60 years ago, only exists thanks to stealing and occupying another country's lands." Yesterday the comments drew condemnation from Palestinian sources and outsiders.
Omar Barghouti, of The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel, described the threat as "deplorable".
Patrick Mercer, the Conservative MP for Newark and a former Shadow Security Minister, said: "One could dismiss Bakri as a ranting extremist but history has shown that he has an ability to twist minds, so his comments should not be underestimated.
"If Sir Paul McCartney wants to play at the 60th anniversary then it is the worst form of illiberalism for Omar Bakri to restrict the artist's freedom in this way."
A spokesman for Sir Paul declined to comment on the threat, saying: "Paul's Friendship First concert is about his music. Paul's is a message of peace."
Tickets for the concert range from £70 to £230.
Last night Sir Paul performed his first concert in the Ukraine, playing to tens of thousands in the capital Kiev.
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