Posted on 08/22/2002 5:33:09 AM PDT by knighthawk
LONDON - A Muslim cleric accused of inciting followers to murder "nonbelievers" was granted bail on Wednesday, after a judge ruled that prosecutors had not released documents to his defense team quickly enough.
Prosecutors say Abdullah el-Faisal, 38, circulated cassettes of his sermons in which he called on Muslims to kill Hindus, Jews and other nonbelievers.
He was arrested in February and denied bail after a judge ruled there was a chance he would go into hiding and commit further offenses.
But sitting at London's Old Bailey criminal court on Wednesday, Judge Peter Beaumont granted el-Faisal bail, on condition he surrenders his passport, reports to police daily and lives at his home in east London. He is expected to be released from custody Thursday.
Beaumont ruled that prosecutors had not acted "expeditiously" in granting el-Faisal's lawyers access to parts of their evidence against him.
El-Faisal, a Jamaican-born convert to Islam who studied religion in Guyana and Saudi Arabia, is charged with encouraging "others to murder persons unknown."
Prosecution lawyer Sally Walsh said in February police had translated several Arabic-language tapes of speeches by el-Faisal, who has preached across Britain.
In one, el-Faisal is accused of telling followers that a jihad, or holy war, had been declared against India by Osama bin Laden.
"You can go to India and if you see a Hindu walking down the road you can kill him and take his money," el-Faisal is alleged to have said.
"Jihad is officially declared against India and it is compulsory for us to do hits on Hindu targets."
Elsewhere on the tape he is alleged to have told supporters "you have to learn to shoot, you have to learn to fly airplanes."
Prosecutors did not say when the tapes were made. The defense said they were at least four years old.
Prosecutors said copies of the tapes were found in el-Faisal's home, along with notes for sermons and duplicating equipment. The cassettes — one titled "No Peace with the Jews" _were also for sale in Muslim bookshops.
El-Faisal denies the charges. His lawyers say he is a respected cleric whose quotations from scripture have been taken out of context.
Prosecutors did not say when the tapes were made. The defense said they were at least four years old.
Oh right if you say so. And kill those Hindus, Jews all the kaffirs. Any Christian pastor or Jewish rabbi in Britain should be allowed to advocate terrorist attacks against Muslims - only that doesn't happen. We don't belong to the religion of peace.
A Muslim cleric accused of inciting followers to murder "nonbelievers" was granted bail on Wednesday, after a judge ruled that prosecutors had not released documents to his defense team quickly enough.
They must really be laughing at the legal systems of the West. And it is very telling that Muslims would even sit and listen to him. Any decent person would have chased him out of the mosque and trashed his tapes. But then, we are dealing with a very different *mentality*. The barbarians are at the gates.
No, only certain judges. We have courts and judges like you do - you know, the kind that strike down the Pledge of Allegiance.
Regards, Ivan
The honest answer is "it depends". It depends on where the trial takes place, who the judge is, etc. It's much the same as in America I dare say. Except we don't have a death penalty, which I am unhappy about.
Regards, Ivan
Note that he began studying Islam in Guyana just after the Iranian Revolution.
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