Author:
Publication: The Sunday Times
Date: July 9, 2006
URL: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-2261777,00.html
A speech by an extremist Muslim cleric praising
the London bombers and mocking victims of suicide attacks has been broadcast
on the internet to coincide with the anniversary of the July 7 attacks.
The audience laughs as Omar Brooks, a British
Muslim convert who also uses the name Abu Izzadeen, makes fun of non-Muslims
as "animals" and "cowards".
Brooks - who has previously described the
London bombers as "completely praiseworthy" - identifies with the
views of Mohammad Sidique Khan, the ringleader of the London attacks.
He contrasts the supposed bravery of Khan's
suicide to the "kuffar" (non-Muslims) who are characterised as debauched
binge-drinkers who vomit and urinate in the street.
The speech is peppered with jokes that bring
laughter from his audience at the Small Heath youth and community centre in
Birmingham, where it was filmed last Sunday.
At one point he announces dramatically that
the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center "changed many people's
lives". After a pause, he brings the house down by adding: "Especially
those inside."
His comments were condemned by Rachel North,
a survivor of the King's Cross bomb. "It's clearly calculated to upset
people and is pretty disgusting. I would imagine these statements are something
that the police would be interested in because they might encourage other
people to get involved in terrorism."
She disclosed that she had received abuse
from supporters of the terrorists. "I've had abusive e-mails from people
saying that I am part of a government conspiracy, that it's a shame I didn't
die in the bombings. It's pretty low, but I have chosen not to publish these
e-mails because I don't want to give them publicity."
Brooks, 31, a former electrician who was born
into a Christian family of Jamaican origin in east London, is already under
police investigation.
Police submitted a file on his activities
to the Crown Prosecution Service last month after an undercover investigation
by The Sunday Times last July tape-recorded him imploring Muslims to "instil
terror into the hearts of the kuffar".
On that occasion he told an audience of teenagers
and young families that he did not want to go to Allah while sleeping in his
bed "like an old woman". Instead, he said: "I want to be blown
into pieces with my hands in one place and my feet in another."
He has continued to speak out publicly despite
the government's attempt to crack down on the "preachers of hate".
His latest speech was at an event entitled
"How can we prevent another 7/7?" and organised by a little known
umbrella group called the Islamic Research Forum. It includes members of Al-Ghurabaa
and the Saviour Sect, both formed from the break-up of Al-Muhajiroun, the
Islamic organisation that described the September 11 terrorists as the "Magnificent
19".
Last August Tony Blair announced that he would
ban "the successor organisation of Al-Muhajiroun", but this is one
of a number of anti-terror proposals that have proved difficult to implement.
Omar Bakri, former leader of Al-Muhajiroun,
fled Britain last year amid fears of a crackdown on radical preachers. He
is said to have been replaced as the leader of the Saviour Sect by Brooks.
The video of last Sunday's speech was posted
on the Al-Ghurabaa website ahead of Friday's memorial service for the 52 people
who were killed by the four suicide bombers.
Brooks is dismissive of calls for reconciliation.
"I know as Friday approaches there will be many epitaphs and speeches
and sermons, and maybe the archbishop of somewhere or other is going to come
out and say, you know, we'll call for peace around the world blah, blah, blah.
"But if we took the time to read Mohammad
Sidique Khan's will [the video confession broadcast after the attacks], we
will see the answer for our problems."
Khan, whose bomb killed six people on a Tube
at Edgware Road, is held up as an example by Brooks because he didn't fear
death. "We're talking about people who want to die the way you like to
live," he said.
