Post by Bozur on Jan 13, 2006 4:35:33 GMT -5
Muslim Cleric Accused in London Court of Inciting Hatred of Jews
By ALAN COWELL
Published: January 12, 2006
LONDON, Jan. 11 - In a closely watched trial, a prominent British Muslim cleric was accused Wednesday of inciting hatred against Jews, praising Hitler and voicing support for suicide bombings.
The cleric, Abu Hamza al-Masri, is accused of violating various British laws in lectures and sermons recorded on videotape and audio cassettes in which he was reported to have said he wanted to see the establishment of an Islamic caliphate in the White House.
Mr. Masri, 47, has denied all 15 charges against him, which include inciting racial hatred and possessing a 10-volume "Encyclopedia of the Afghani Jihad," which prosecutors call "a manual for terrorism."
Mr. Masri, also known as Mustafa Kamel Mustafa, is an Egyptian-born preacher who acquired British citizenship by marriage. He is the former imam of the Finsbury Park mosque in North London. He was arrested in May 2004, and is wanted in the United States on other terrorism charges.
Mr. Masri is the best-known British Islamic leader to come to trial since the attacks in the United States on Sept. 11, 2001, set off the international effort to curb terrorism.
David Perry, a prosecutor, said in court that Mr. Masri had "encouraged his listeners, whether they were an audience at a private meeting or a congregation at the mosque, to believe it was part of a religious duty to fight in the cause of Allah, God, and as part of the religious duty to fight in the cause of Allah, it was part of the religious duty to kill."
"The people they were being encouraged to kill, put shortly, were nonbelievers," Mr. Perry said.
The accusations reflected what Mr. Perry depicted as the "intolerance, bigotry and hatred" that he said Mr. Masri had sought to instill among some British Muslims.
The hearings are unfolding under strict British legal restrictions intended to ensure that Mr. Masri's trial is fair and is not influenced by the way he was characterized in British newspapers before his arrest. If convicted, he could face life in prison.
"You would think he would be preaching tolerance, mutual coexistence and responsibility regardless of religion or creed," Mr. Perry said. "In fact he preached the opposite: intolerance, bigotry and hatred, in particular against Jews as a racial group and as a religious body.
"In the course of one lecture, he accused the Jews of being blasphemous, traitors and dirty. This, because of the treachery, because of their blasphemy and filth, was why Hitler was sent into the world."
Mr. Masri told his followers that "Hitler was sent to torture and humiliate the Jews, and every last Jew is going to be buried in Palestine," Mr. Perry added, quoting from what he said was a sermon in October 2000.
In other videotapes, Mr. Masri said it was "permitted to kill women and children if they are fighting Muslims, or if there is no way to stop them," Mr. Perry said.
Mr. Masri was also asked for his views on suicide bombings. "It is not called suicide, this is called martyrdom," Mr. Masri was quoted as saying. According to Mr. Perry's account, Mr. Masri added, "If we do not use terrorism or torture, what are we going to use?"
Mr. Masri frequently evoked the caliphate, Mr. Perry said, referring to Islamic spiritual and temporal leadership based on descendants of the Prophet Muhammad. The caliphate was abolished in 1924 by Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey.
"He is working for a worldwide caliphate, a world dominated by a caliph sitting, he says in one of his lectures, in the White House," Mr. Perry said.
By ALAN COWELL
Published: January 12, 2006
LONDON, Jan. 11 - In a closely watched trial, a prominent British Muslim cleric was accused Wednesday of inciting hatred against Jews, praising Hitler and voicing support for suicide bombings.
The cleric, Abu Hamza al-Masri, is accused of violating various British laws in lectures and sermons recorded on videotape and audio cassettes in which he was reported to have said he wanted to see the establishment of an Islamic caliphate in the White House.
Mr. Masri, 47, has denied all 15 charges against him, which include inciting racial hatred and possessing a 10-volume "Encyclopedia of the Afghani Jihad," which prosecutors call "a manual for terrorism."
Mr. Masri, also known as Mustafa Kamel Mustafa, is an Egyptian-born preacher who acquired British citizenship by marriage. He is the former imam of the Finsbury Park mosque in North London. He was arrested in May 2004, and is wanted in the United States on other terrorism charges.
Mr. Masri is the best-known British Islamic leader to come to trial since the attacks in the United States on Sept. 11, 2001, set off the international effort to curb terrorism.
David Perry, a prosecutor, said in court that Mr. Masri had "encouraged his listeners, whether they were an audience at a private meeting or a congregation at the mosque, to believe it was part of a religious duty to fight in the cause of Allah, God, and as part of the religious duty to fight in the cause of Allah, it was part of the religious duty to kill."
"The people they were being encouraged to kill, put shortly, were nonbelievers," Mr. Perry said.
The accusations reflected what Mr. Perry depicted as the "intolerance, bigotry and hatred" that he said Mr. Masri had sought to instill among some British Muslims.
The hearings are unfolding under strict British legal restrictions intended to ensure that Mr. Masri's trial is fair and is not influenced by the way he was characterized in British newspapers before his arrest. If convicted, he could face life in prison.
"You would think he would be preaching tolerance, mutual coexistence and responsibility regardless of religion or creed," Mr. Perry said. "In fact he preached the opposite: intolerance, bigotry and hatred, in particular against Jews as a racial group and as a religious body.
"In the course of one lecture, he accused the Jews of being blasphemous, traitors and dirty. This, because of the treachery, because of their blasphemy and filth, was why Hitler was sent into the world."
Mr. Masri told his followers that "Hitler was sent to torture and humiliate the Jews, and every last Jew is going to be buried in Palestine," Mr. Perry added, quoting from what he said was a sermon in October 2000.
In other videotapes, Mr. Masri said it was "permitted to kill women and children if they are fighting Muslims, or if there is no way to stop them," Mr. Perry said.
Mr. Masri was also asked for his views on suicide bombings. "It is not called suicide, this is called martyrdom," Mr. Masri was quoted as saying. According to Mr. Perry's account, Mr. Masri added, "If we do not use terrorism or torture, what are we going to use?"
Mr. Masri frequently evoked the caliphate, Mr. Perry said, referring to Islamic spiritual and temporal leadership based on descendants of the Prophet Muhammad. The caliphate was abolished in 1924 by Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey.
"He is working for a worldwide caliphate, a world dominated by a caliph sitting, he says in one of his lectures, in the White House," Mr. Perry said.