Banned Islamists Spawn Front Organisations

The Guardian (UK) ^ | 7-22-2006 | Ian Cobain - Nick Fielding

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Banned Islamists spawn front organisations

Al-Ghurabaa tries to ensure survival with groups across UK

Ian Cobain and Nick Fielding
Saturday July 22, 2006
The Guardian (UK)

Muslim demonstration organised by Anjem Choudhary, former righthand man to the al-Ghurabaa founder. Photograph: David Levene/Guardian

A British Islamist group which is to be outlawed under new anti-terror laws has already formed scores of front organisations in an attempt to ensure its survival, according to investigators in New York. Al-Ghurabaa, formed by Omar Bakri Mohammed before he fled to Lebanon in the wake of the 7/7 bombings, heads the list of four organisations which are to be proscribed under legislation which prohibits the glorification of terrorism.

However, an investigation by police in New York - where al-Ghurabaa raised funds and recruited members under another name - alleges that it has formed 81 front organisations, support groups and affiliates in six different countries. The overwhelming majority are based in London, the home counties, the Midlands, Lancashire and West Yorkshire.

A counter-terrorism unit of the New York police department (NYPD), established after the attacks of September 11 to monitor Islamist organisations, says al-Ghurabaa's predecessor, al-Muhajiroun, had spawned all of the connected organisations by the time John Reid, the home secretary, moved to proscribe al-Ghurabaa on Monday.

In addition, a number of groups of Muslim professionals in the UK are alleged to be front organisations. A report by the unit names publishing companies and student bodies, a software company, and Islamic societies in 21 British towns and cities.

By monitoring Islamist websites and the Arabic and Pakistani press, as well as the organisation's own pronouncements, the NYPD unit says it has identified a number of groups in the US, Canada, Pakistan and Portugal as front organisations, as well as affiliates in Algeria.

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Cease fire needed now! /S

What a joke, like a rattlesnake they shed their skin and go on with their murderous ways.