Poll shows British Muslims' misgivings (1 IN 5 *NOT* LOYAL)

One in five British Muslims feels little loyalty towards Britain, according to a poll for The Daily Telegraph.

The YouGov survey also found that a minority of Muslims were not prepared to condemn the terrorist attacks carried out by Osama bin Laden nor acknowledge al-Qa'eda as the perpetrators.

Just under half of those surveyed did not accept that the attacks on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon were carried out by Muslims.

However, the poll suggests that the majority of British Muslims wish no ill towards the West and are concerned that the attitudes of some are damaging Islam's reputation in the eyes of the world. An overwhelming majority said the atrocities in the United States on September 11 last year were not justified.

On the question of loyalty, while 13 per cent of those questioned said they felt "not very loyal" towards Britain, and six per cent "not at all loyal", 31 per cent felt "very loyal" and 44 per cent "fairly loyal".

YouGov found the survey difficult to conduct because some respondents were uncomfortable with the exercise, while others were deeply suspicious. One reply stated: "I don't much care for the wording of your survey and believe it to be a cynical attempt to spread more damaging propaganda about Muslims."

As well as commissioning the poll, however, a team of Telegraph reporters carried out an extensive range of interviews in Muslim areas of Britain.

Tony Blair yesterday issued a message of goodwill to Muslims to mark Islam's biggest festival of Eid ul-Fitr, which ends the holy month of Ramadan. "I am proud to be the Prime Minister of many cultures and many faiths," he said. "Festivals like Eid provide us with a good opportunity to acknowledge and celebrate this diversity."

The Muslim population of Britain, which in 1961 was estimated at 86,000, is today thought to number about two million. Half originally came from Pakistan, with the Middle East and North Africa accounting for another quarter.

The Islam Threat and the Enemy Within

Jihad in the UK & Islamic Attacks

England's week of Terror 2001

News (See articles for more news)

03 December 2002 - UK Muslim Terrorist who vowed to turn Taliban fighters against the UK has been arrested.
Hassan Butt, a 22-year-old university drop-out from Manchester, was arrested on Monday and is being held at the Central London Police Station.
Sheikh Omar Bakri Muhammad, head of the radical London-based al Muhajiroun group, said Butt is a member of his organisation and its former spokesman in Pakistan.
"He was arrested in Manchester under the terror laws. I spoke with him yesterday," Mr Bakri said. He was arrested by the Greater Manchester Police who were acting on behalf of the anti-terror units of the London Police. Butt was to be questioned under new anti-terrorism laws enacted after the September 11 attacks. He claimed to have helped recruit more than 200 Taliban volunteer fighters in Britain and said many would return to launch attacks on military and political leaders. Butt has said many of the fighters had been killed in Afghanistan but that he would encourage survivors to take action against the country of his birth

26 October 2002 - Muslim Terrorists will murder their Moscow hostages at dawn. The masked Terrorists cowards including women who claim to be widows of ethnic insurgents, have demanded that Russia withdraw its troops from the Caucasus province of Chechnya. Earlier, a Web site linked to the rebels said they would blow up the theatre if the Russians did not withdraw in seven days.

25 October 2002- Judges back Government anti-terror measures - Three appeal judges headed by the Lord Chief Justice have agreed the Government has the power to detain indefinitely foreign nationals considered a threat to the country's security.

The judges allowed an appeal by the Home Secretary, overturning a decision attacking the detention of terrorist suspects as unlawful. Abu Qatada, described as Osama bin Laden's ambassador in Europe, has been detained under the Anti-Terrorism Act after being arrested in London. A spokesman for the Home Office said after the judgment was handed down: "The Government's paramount responsibility is to ensure public safety and national security." A statement added: "A responsible Government must be honest about the threats we face and must strike a balance to protect both our freedoms and our safety."

'Bin Laden ambassador' seized in London - British police are reported to be holding an Islamic radical described as Osama bin Laden's ambassador in Europe.

Abu Qatada is said to have been seized in an armed raid at a London council house. The cleric is accused by police in eight countries of being a key figure in bin Laden's al Qaida network. He is being held in Belmarsh Prison in south east London, according to The Times. Home Secretary David Blunkett has announced that a suspected terrorist is being held, but refused to identify any further details. Home Office officials are refusing to confirm or deny claims - attributed to "security sources" - that the arrested man is Qatada.

The Times says Qatada was caught in a raid on a council house in Bermondsey, south-east London. He has been on the run since December, after disappearing hours before the Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act came into force, giving the authorities the power to detain foreign nationals suspected of terrorism. He is alleged to have recruited shoe-bomber Richard Reid and Zacharias Moussaoui, who is being held under suspicion of involvement in planning the September 11 atrocities. A document was recently published on the Internet under his name justifying the September 11 attacks on moral grounds.

13 October 2002 - Two years to the day after the bombing of the USS Cole, an Islamic terror bomb detonates in the holiday island of Bali. The death toll is rising up to 200 from many different countries. Not satisfied with Jewish and American blood they target innocents on holiday at a paradise island. Most of the dead are Australian and a significant proportion are British. More

04 October 2002 - Shoe bomber Richard C. Reid, smirking and pledging his allegiance to Osama bin Laden, pleaded guilty Friday morning to trying to blow up an airliner over the Atlantic Ocean.
"Basically I got on the plane with a bomb. Basically I tried to ignite it. Basically, yeah, I intended to damage the plane," Reid said in court, laughing. Reid, who surprised prosecutors earlier this week by deciding to plead guilty to avoid trial, said he did not recognize the American justice system but agreed he did commit the acts outlined in the indictment against him.
The 29-year-old British citizen was accused of trying to murder 197 passengers and crew members aboard an American Airlines flight from Paris to Miami last December. The flight was diverted to Boston after passengers and flight attendants jumped on Reid to prevent him from setting fire to a shoe packed with explosives. U.S. District Judge William Young asked Reid: "Did you intend to blow that plane up and kill the people on that plane and yourself?"

Reid replied, "Yeah," and smirked.

The judge refused a request by Reid to strike language in the indictment that mentioned he'd been trained by Al Qaeda forces. "I don't care. ... I'm a follower of Usama bin Laden. I'm an enemy of your country and I don't care," Reid said. Federal prosecutors told the judge they would recommend a sentence of 60 years to life in prison, in accordance with federal guidelines. Sentencing was scheduled for Jan. 4.

The would-be killer pleaded guilty to eight charges: attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction; attempted homicide; placing an explosive device on an aircraft; attempted murder; two counts of interference with flight crew and attendants; attempted destruction of an aircraft; and using a destructive device during a crime of violence. A ninth charge, attempted wrecking of a mass transportation vehicle, a charge filed under the new USA Patriot Act, was tossed out by the judge in June.

When asked by the judge why he pleaded guilty, he said: "Because I know what I've done. ... At the end of the day I know that I done the actions." Reid's attempt to blow up the plane just three months after the Sept. 11 attacks rattled an already shaky flying public.

Federal authorities had been preparing for a high-profile, tight-security trial, where Reid's alleged links to Al Qaeda would be presented. But Reid stunned prosecutors when he said he wanted to plead guilty to avoid the publicity of trial and the affect it would have on his family. When the judge asked Reid he had consulted with his lawyers about his guilty plea and if he understood, Reid replied: "I don't recognize your system so how can I be satisfied?"

2 October 2002 - Shoe bomber terrorist to plead guilty to all charges. Richard Reid, a British citizen, is accused of attempting to kill the 197 passengers and crew members aboard a Dec. 22 American Airlines flight from Paris to Miami with explosives hidden in his shoes. He was overpowered by flight attendants and passengers, and the flight was diverted to Boston. Attorneys for Reid filed a motion Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Boston alerting prosecutors to his plan to plead guilty. Reid's trial had been scheduled to begin Nov. 4.

The FBI has said it believes Reid had help making the shoe bomb from "an Al Qaeda bomb maker." The FBI also said it searched Reid's e-mail accounts and found one in which he described a duty to "remove the oppressive American forces from the Muslim land." Reid also told the FBI he was driven by anger over the treatment of Muslims in Israel, according to transcripts of the interrogations. He said he travelled in June 2001 to Jerusalem's Al Aqsa Mosque, and was angered to see "Jews with guns" inside.
"His trip to Jerusalem further emboldened him to act against the west when he witnessed the many checkpoints and travel restrictions on Muslims," one transcript says.

28 September 2002 - Communists and Islamo-Nazis cause public disturbance in London in support of Iraq and Arab terror in Israel. The timing of the march coincides with the 2 year anniversary of the terror uprising against Israel. Waving anti-war banners and chanting slogans against "Bomber Bush and Bomber Blair"

Amongst the usual suspects of Islamic terror supporters, anti-globies, anti-capitalists & the red menace of socialism was Scott Ritter, George Galloway and many other labour back bencher communists. The enemy truly is amongst us.

13 September 2002 - Legal threat to ban-defying Muslims - London's Mayor Ken Living-stone is prepared to institute legal action against Muslim radicals who defied his ban on an Al-Muhajiroun rally in Trafalgar Square last month. Police are preparing statements and viewing videos of the event, which attracted a 600-strong crowd. They will pass the information on to the Greater London Authority, together with the names and addresses of individuals who attended the demonstration.

A GLA spokesperson pointed out that Mr Livingstone had twice refused permission to Al-Muhajiroun to use Trafalgar Square, citing anti-Jewish and homophobic statements by some of its supporters. If police evidence was sufficiently strong, the Mayor would launch civil proceedings against individuals at the rally, during which two Al-Muhajiroun supporters and two participants in a far-right counter-demonstration were arrested. Mr Livingstone’s decision followed calls from Jewish leaders and the head of the GLA’s Tory group, Councillor Eric Ollerenshaw, to take action against Al-Muhajiroun. Councillor Ollerenshaw argued that having banned the rally, “it is important to follow this up by acting against those who broke by-laws by defying the ban. If nothing is done, then what is to stop other extremist groups from demonstrating when and where they want to?”
In a letter to Mr Livingstone, the Tory leader wrote that he was “loath to see any other organisation subscribing to such radical positions gathering in Trafalgar Square in future,” adding that he felt it was “imperative to establish” that such rallies “will not be tolerated by the GLA.”

08 September 2002 -Muslim Terror supporters celebrate America Attacks Conference held at Finsbury park Mosque on Septmber11 2002 will see the launch of the Islamic Council of Britain, which supports the implementation of Muslim Sharia law in Britain.

05 September 2002 - The Whining Muslim Rioters- Protesters jailed for their part in the Bradford riots should stop "whining" about their sentences, according to Home Secretary David Blunkett.
He rounded on "bleeding heart liberals" for criticising government crime initiatives and he argued that "the maniacs who were engaging in this are now whining about sentences they have been given".
Mr Blunkett said: "These maniacs actually burned down their own businesses, their own job opportunities. They discouraged investment in their areas." So far, more than 90 people have been sentenced to an average of four to five years in jail by judges at Bradford Crown Court.
Phillip Brear, the acting chief constable of West Yorkshire, has hit back at claims that the sentences given to rioters were too harsh, accusing some people of "airbrushing the facts".
The families of the Muslim terror-rioters are actually blaming September 11 for the sentences rather than their criminal family members.
More than 300 officers were injured, and damage estimated at £25m was caused by the would-be Palestinian terror-riots in 2001.

1 September 2002- The Hijacker planned a Sep11 style attack on a US Embassy in Europe- The man suspected of attempting to hijack a London-bound plane planned to fly the jet into a US embassy, Swedish security officials say. In a terrifying echo of September 11, officials said 29-year-old, Kerim Chatty who was born in Tunisia, was going to slam the plane into a European embassy. Intelligence chiefs are looking for four men who worked on the plan with him, including an explosives expert.
"We know for sure that the plan was to crash the plane into a US embassy in Europe," a military intelligence source told Reuters. A probable target was the US Embassy in London where 2000 people work on an average day. It would have taken just five minutes for the 500mph Ryanair jet to have diverted from its course to Stansted and reach the embassy in Mayfair.

The man was stopped from boarding the Ryanair jet after a gun was found in his hand luggage. The weapon was discovered as he went through security checks at Stockholm Airport. He was planning to fly to Stansted Airport with a group of 20 people to attend an Islamic conference in Birmingham. He was also a known criminal with links to gun crime, a security source said: "He hates the Americans and British for their involvement in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Balkans. "To hit the American Embassy in London would deal a massive blow to both countries." He attended a flying school in Conway, South Carolina, in 1996 — the hijackers in the US attacks underwent flight training in the US too.

Soon after the American atrocity, Chatty made a pilgrimage to Mecca and also travelled extensively throughout the Middle East. In the past 18 months he went on an amazing 32 trips. He visited Yemen eight times and Saudi Arabia seven times. Chatty also travelled three times to the US, five times to France, twice to Italy and Tunisia. He was also known as a Muslim fanatic by friends. One said: "He wanted to be a part of the holy war—Jihad. He talked a lot about it."

Abu Hamza defends Chatty

Chatty also had previous convictions for assault after attacks on the Americans that he hated. One was for hitting a Marine guard at the US Embassy in Stockholm in 1999. Two years earlier he had received a severe beating himself when he attacked a group of four US marines as they ate in a Stockholm restaurant. Witnesses said he had called them "murderers". The same month, he attacked US diplomats at a high-class gym in Stockholm. He received a one year prison term for the assault, but was released for good behaviour after five months.

30 August 2002 -CPS blunder allows bail in race-hate case-Community security officials have criticised the Crown Prosecution Service for an administrative oversight that allowed a Muslim cleric accused of encouraging people to kill Jews and Americans to be be granted bail. He has denied the charges. Old Bailey judge Peter Beau-mont rejected a CPS application to extend the time in custody of Abdullah el-Faisal because of a delay in its handing over crucial evidence to defence lawyers.

A judge has to be satisfied that the Crown has acted with sufficient speed in furnishing relevant evidence to the defence before extending custody beyond the statutory six months. In the view of Judge Beaumont, the Crown had not met this condition. He ordered the release of el-Faisal, 39, on condition that he limited his preaching. He ruled that the East London cleric must refrain from preaching material contained in 10 audio tapes central to the case. Bail was granted with the imposition of residence conditions and daily reporting to the police. The defendant was also ordered to surrender his passport. A Community Security Trust spokesman voiced “deep regret at the CPS’s failure to efficiently prosecute Islamist activities.” At his trial, set for January, el-Faisal will face five charges of soliciting murder and other counts of using abusive and threatening words and distributing abusive material.

30 August 2002 - Muslims, anti-Iraq war campaigners join forces- Pro-Palestinian activists and British peace campaigners are to join forces in a central London demonstration next month in protest against Britain’s policies towards Israel and Prime Minister Tony Blair’s support for the US stance on Iraq. The Stop the War Coalition — supported by trades unionists, MPs, and prominent figures from the arts — will march alongside supporters of the Muslim Association of Britain in what the organisers have forecast as Britain’s “biggest ever anti-war demonstration.”

Under the slogans “Don’t attack Iraq” and “Freedom for Palestine,” the protest will condemn what a spokesman for the organisers termed the “incompetence and flagrant bias and injustice of our government’s policies concerning both these issues.” The September 28 march, from Hyde Park to Trafalgar Square, is intended as the start of a further campaign by the MAB, which said it intended to deliver leaflets denouncing Israeli policies to over a million homes during the coming year.

Spokesman Anas Alkriti called for an end to Israel’s “occupation of Palestinian land.” He said that it was “inexcusable that the British government should be continuing to sell weapons to Israel while it is committing atrocities against defenceless people.” Lindsey German, the coalition’s convenor, noted that the demonstration would fall on the eve of the Labour Party conference and the second anniversary of the start of the Palestinian intifada. “We will send a clear and unequivocal message to our government that the British public will not tolerate double standards, hypocrisy or injustice,” he said. The aim was to issue “an unconditional message of support and solidarity to the peoples of Palestine and Iraq.” The march will come as the Jewish community and pro-Israel campaigners face up to a growing tide of boycotts and demonstrations by Muslim and pro-Palestinian groups. On Sunday, four people were arrested when 600 members of the extremist Islamic organisation Al-Muhajiroun defied a ban by the Greater London Authority and demonstrated in Trafalgar Square, where they were confronted by groups of far-right extremists Two supporters of Al-Muhajiroun, which has in the past voiced approval for attacks on Jews, and two members of the far-right group were arrested for threatening behaviour and breach of the peace.

Police also confiscated a canister of petrol from a rally supporter.

Labour peer Lord Janner, chair of the Holocaust Education Trust, said that he planned to contact Home Secretary David Blunkett about the demonstration, which turned into a stand-off between extremists on both sides. “It should have been banned, and if the law didn’t allow it to be banned, then the law should be changed,” The demonstration took place just a few days after Mr Blunkett, addressing the Al-Manaar Muslim cultural centre in North Kensington, London, urged the Islamic community to deal vigorously with those who preach or practise extremism.

30 August 2002 -A man charged with trying to hijack a plane bound for the UK may be a follower of the same extreme version of Islam as Bin Laden.

The 29-year-old Swedish citizen, originally from Tunisia, was arrested as he tried to board a flight from Sweden to London with a handgun hidden in his hand luggage. Swedish police have confirmed they are looking in to any possible terrorist link to the incident. British terrorist experts are on their way to question the man. The arrested man, who has not been named, was said to be part of a group of 20 people on their way to an Islamic conference in Birmingham. 3,000 people are expected to attended the conference organised by Salafi publications.

The suspect was a follower of Salafi, an extreme version of Islam said to be followed by al Qaeda leader bin Laden, wanted for the September 11 terrorist attacks. The Salafi bookshop, which is hosting the conference for the sixth year, also runs an Internet discussion forum, with members submitting messages and copies of newspaper reports from around the world on subjects such as September 11.One message is entitled "The goal behind the Yid Holocaust in Jenin", while another, about homosexual teachers in the United States, is entitled "Faggotization in the Classroom."

Shoe-bomber Richard Reid, from London, facing trial in America after allegedly trying to ignite a bomb hidden in his shoe while on board a plane, is also a follower. A number of those arrested across the world in connection with the September 11 are also said to follow Salafi. The hijack suspect was held trying to board a Ryanair flight to London Stanstead at the Vaesteraas Airport, north of Stockholm, on Thursday after security officers found the weapon in his hand luggage. Swedish police spokesman Ulf Palm said: "We believe he was going to hijack the plane." A group of about a dozen, women Muslims dressed in traditional black burkas, were tapping on the glass, trying to communicate with the men, a member of the public the police over and they were taken away to a side room.

Earlier, a number of Brits on the 80-mile bus ride from Stockholm city to the remote airport became worried about the Muslims’ behaviour. One passenger said: “An English boy complained he did not want to go on the flight with those people because they were behaving oddly.”

21 August 2002 - THE FBI will seek the extradition of Abu Hamza al-Masri, for trying to set up a terrorist training camp in America.
American Justice Department officials have so far failed to extradite any suspect from Britain as part of their worldwide investigation into the al-Qaeda network, but say they are close to issuing a warrant for Mr al-Masri. After recently losing two high-profile extradition cases, the Justice Department in Washington confirmed yesterday that is studying a dossier on his alleged terrorist links. MPs have asked the Home Secretary, David Blunkett, to explain why the militant cleric, who preaches at a North London mosque, has so far escaped arrest in Britain. A number of other governments, including France, Spain and Yemen, have asked Britain to investigate Mr al-Masri’s activities. Scotland Yard says it has investigated the cleric, a British passport holder, but has found no evidence against him.
The FBI said his alleged recruits include Richard Reid, the so-called “shoe bomber”, who is said to have tried to detonate explosives on a packed airliner over the Atlantic. He is alleged to have had explosives hidden in the soles of his trainers. The US authorities have already frozen the financial assets of Mr al-Masri, who lost both hands and an eye in a bomb blast in Afghanistan.
They claim that he tried to establish a jihad training camp at a remote ranch in Oregon.

FBI agents allege that he learnt of the camp from James Ujaama, an American Muslim, who is being held in Virginia as a material witness for a federal Grand Jury investigating terrorist operations inside the US. Mr Ujaama admitted that he spent six months at Mr al-Masri’s mosque in Finsbury Park and had visited the Oregon ranch. FBI investigators may find themselves in conflict with colleagues from the Defence Department over attempts to get a 22-year-old Briton held at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba to give evidence against Mr al-Masri. Feroz Abbasi, a South London computer expert, is alleged to have been sent to an Afghan training camp by Mr al-Masri. High-ranking federal sources say the Defence Department has balked at letting prosecutors question Mr Abbasi under conditions that would enable his statements to be used as evidence in federal court.

The Yemeni Government asked for his extradition after Mr al-Masri’s son and grandson were convicted in a plot to bomb British targets in the port city of Aden. After recent setbacks in the British courts, US officials say they want to build a case that will lead to Mr al-Masri’s extradition. Two Old Bailey judges dismissed their previous attempts, saying there was a lack of evidence from the FBI.
Lotfi Raissi, an Algerian-born pilot, who was freed after the FBI accused him of giving flying lessons to some of the September 11 hijackers, is considering legal action against the US Government. Yasser al-Siri, a London-based bookseller, was also freed after a judge ruled there was insufficient evidence to extradite him.
Last night Mr al-Masri was unavailable for comment, but in the past he has said: “I have nothing to hide and I have done nothing wrong.”

17 August 2002 - The entire governing body of a Birmingham school is likely to be sacked after a report claimed a group of Muslim governors was trying to turn it into a Muslim-only school. A report for the city’s education authority into Washwood Heath Technology College investigated claims that a small group of governors had tried to force out white staff and appoint Asian teachers in their place.
The acute divisions at the school, where 70 per cent of the 1,253 pupils are Muslim and 85 per cent are from ethnic minorities, have already driven the head teacher and more than half the teachers to resign. Birmingham City Council will replace the board of governors with a hand-picked board of five educational experts, under legislation that comes into force next month.

Muslim leaders have not done enough to show their sorrow for the September 11 attacks, according to the son of the evangelist Billy Graham. The Rev Franklin Graham, who last year described Islam as a “very evil and wicked religion”, challenged Muslim clerics to help to rebuild New York or to compensate victims’ families.

15 August 2002 - Plans to allow non-Christian officers to wear a badge without the traditional crown and cross insignia have been dropped by the Metropolitan Police. Commissioner Sir John Stevens decided to abandon the plan after informal talks with other police groups. The badge incorporates the St Edward's crown topped with a Christian cross. The proposal followed an employment tribunal claim for race discrimination brought by a Muslim traffic warden. M'Hammed Azzaoui had said he could not wear the symbol of another faith, but later dropped his claim. Traditionalists had attacked the scheme as "political correctness gone mad".

14 August 2002 - Terror accused demands apology, not enough evidence found, yet. - An Algerian pilot accused of training the hijackers who carried out the 11 September attacks has said he is considering taking legal action against the British and American authorities. Lotfi Raissi spent five months in jail until all the charges were dropped when no evidence was found.

13 August 2002 - Terror group prepares to march. Al-Muhajiroun, which endorses the use of violence, supports Osama bin Laden and campaigns to turn the UK into an Islamic state, is planning a “Rally for Islam” in Trafalgar Square to recruit new members on August 25.
The Greater London Authority has refused permission for the rally, saying that it could cause offence. A spokeswoman said: “At previous rallies they have expressed anti-Jewish and homophobic comments that would be insulting to a lot of people.”
However, Anjem Choudary, the UK leader of Al-Muhajiroun, said its previous rallies had been peaceful, and they would hold it even without permission. “It’s a public space, there are going to be thousands of people there anyway. Ken Livingstone has his own agenda — people are just being anti-Islam and anti-Muslim,” he said.
Al-Muhajiroun now denies that it recruits for jihad, but it boasted of this before September 11, and does not deny that some of its members went to fight against American and British troops in Afghanistan. It believes that those practising homosexuality, adultery, fornication and bestiality should be stoned to death. The group has been putting up posters for the rally around London. Mr Choudary says they have recruited up to 20 people to Islam at previous rallies, and denies that they spread intolerance. “We want to turn Britain into an Islamic state. Islam has brought law and order for 1,300 years,” he said.
Al-Muhajiroun has been banned from many university campuses, but claims to function in 30 cities around Britain, with more than 60 regular discussion circles.
Its spiritual leader, Sheikh Bakri Mohammed, said of the 1998 al-Qaeda attacks on the US Embassies in Dar es Salaam and Nairobi: “We would not carry out terrorist activity ourselves, but we endorse the use of violence. Bin Laden is a hero to all Muslims.”

10 August 2002 - Muslims reject the Crown: The Metropolitan Police Force is to drop the crown and cross from its insignia for non-Christian officers because of objections from a Muslim recruit.
A Muslim traffic warden resigned because he complained he was unable to wear the symbol from any other faith. The Sunday Times reports that the force has come under pressure from a threatened employment tribunal resulting from the case. Currently all officers in Britain's 51 police areas wear the badge which incorporates the St Edward's crown, topped with a Christian cross.
Now the Met is proposing to develop an alternative badge for people who do not want to sport the traditional one. In a statement, the Met said it had long "cherished" its association with the Crown. However, its future depended on its "ability to attract and maintain the most talented people and cater for their individual needs and requirements". It proposes that all employees will still be issued with the traditional badges "as a matter of course" but if they object - with supportable reasons - they will be offered a badge without the crown.
The initiative could be adopted nationwide after the Met's deputy commissioner Ian Blair discusses the issue with the Association of Chief Police Officers.
Traditionalists have rejected the idea. Inspector Glenn Smyth, chairman of the Metropolitan Police Federation, told the Sunday Times: "Uniform should be exactly what the word means - it should apply to everyone.
"We swear an oath of allegiance to the Queen. The crown is the symbol of that oath and this move attacks its meaning."
Tony Arbour, a Conservative member of the Greater London Authority, said it was political correctness "going mad".

1 August 2002 - The Afghanistan couple who hid in a mosque in the Midlands are to be deported to Germany within the next few days. The Home Office says the Ahmadis must go back to Germany, where they first applied for asylum. They are now being held in a detention centre near Heathrow.

30 July 2002 - Young Muslim men living in Britain are being recruited to fight in militant Islamic organisations abroad, senior members of the Muslim community have warned. They say neither the UK Government nor the community itself is doing enough to tackle the problem. Labour peer Lord Nazir Ahmed told BBC Radio 4's Today programme "disaffection and disillusionment" inside the Muslim community offered extremists an opportunity in Britain. "They have, these people from the Middle East, been recruiting young people and giving them an identity, And unfortunately some of them have ended up in countries outside the United Kingdom. Shadow home secretary Oliver Letwin said the assertions made by Lord Ahmed and Dr Siddiqui had to be taken "very seriously".

25 July 2002 Police officers have raided a mosque to remove an Afghan family, who are refusing to leave the UK. On Thursday morning 12 police officers, two of them in riot gear, sealed off the building in the West Midlands and used a metal battering ram to break into the building.
Farid and Feriba Ahmadi and their two children took refuge in the Ghausia Jamia Mosque in Lye, near Stourbridge, last month. The Home Office had ruled they had no case to stay in the country on compassionate grounds and should be deported to Germany on Friday. Hajikhadim Hussein, an elder at the mosque, said morning prayers had just finished when the raid occurred.They were smuggled illegally into the UK from Germany on the back of a lorry after leaving Afghanistan. Supporters of the family have been holding demonstrations in an attempt to persuade the Home Office to change its mind.

The raid prompted protests and violence by up to 40 young Muslim men outside Lye police station and there were a number of people detained.

14 July 2002 Suspected al-Qaeda operative and missing Islamic cleric Abu Qatada has asked British Muslims to become martyrs in Jihad against "oppression."
Qatada, whose assets have been frozen by the US Treasury and wanted by Jordanian authorities for his alleged role in a plot to blow up hotels there on millennium eve said in an e-mail: "The time of victory is near. All over the world Muslims are sacrificing more and con tributing more to the struggle." The e-mail from the Palestinian-born religious scholar was read out at a meeting of hard-line Islamic campaigners in London on Friday night, The Observer reported on Sunday.
The message accused Muslims worldwide of suffering "defeats and calamities" because they had abandoned the true path of Islam.
Qatada also praised the Taliban for their "sacrifice to protect their Islamic brothers" and "refusal to compromise their Islamic beliefs", before calling on his followers to give up their lives. "May Allah accept us all to be martyred," the hardline cleric recently described by a Spanish judge as "the spiritual head of the Mujahideen in Britain" said at the end of his message, read out by Omar Mohammed Bakri Fostok, leader of the al-Muhajiroun group that organised the meeting

13 July 2002- Muslim militants hold UK meeting

Muslim fundamentalists have held their first public meeting in Britain since the 11 September terrorist attacks. Speakers at the London conference railed against the United States and said that President Bush should stand trial as a war criminal. Among those to give speeches were leaders wanted in the US and the Middle East for their alleged support of terrorism.
Mainstream leaders stayed away from the meeting, insisting that the views expressed were not shared by the vast majority of Muslims.
Blackmailing. The message from the conference was one of resentment towards the US and what was seen as the oppression being inflicted on Muslims.

President Bush's war on terror, they said, was against Islam and the West was blackmailing Muslim states to arrest fundamentalists. Yasser al-Sirri, who is facing extradition to the US for allegedly sending money to terrorists in Afghanistan, complained about the treatment of prisoners captured by the American military in Afghanistan and held in Cuba. Al-Sirri, who has also spent several months in Belmarsh prison accused of links to al-Qaeda, said: "We should put George Bush on trial as a war criminal for committing these violations." The meeting was also addressed by Abu Hamza al-Masri, a cleric whose funds were frozen by the US Treasury for his alleged membership in the Islamic Army of Aden. The group claimed responsibility for bombing the USS Cole in Yemen in October 2000, during which 17 American sailors were killed.

Al-Masri, who lost his hands and left eye fighting in Afghanistan and now preaches at Finsbury Park mosque in London, said the US government was spiteful. He said: "They are trying to shut me up. I am one of the people who speaks openly."

The audience of 150 were also told that Abu Qutadah, who disappeared in February, was safe and that he believed victory was close at hands for Muslims.

Organisers of the meeting included the militant group al-Muhajiroun, which has encouraged members to join armed struggles abroad

8 July 2002 Muslim cleric defies speech ban- Sheikh Omar Bakri Mohammed - the London-based leader of Al Muhajirounis - delivered his speech at a secret location in the city. He is being monitored by police after expressing support for Osama Bin Laden.
He is also being investigated because of his militant pronouncements, which included a call for Britain to become an Islamic state. Also, in the aftermath of September 11th, he imposed a fatwa on the Pakistani president.
Arrangements had been made for him to speak at Shah Jahal Mosque on Sunday, but mosque trustee Mohammed Ahad Chowdury blocked the move, saying the alleged extremist was not invited.
But BBC Wales understands that Sheikh Mohammed went ahead with his planned visit at a secret venue in the city. His organisation was stopped from holding a meeting in Cardiff in the wake of the 11 September terrorist attacks in the US. Sheikh Mohammed is understood to have regularly visited Cardiff to meet with students and has pledged that the banned visit this month will not put him off returning again.
Speaking last week, Sheikh Mohammed said he could not understand why the ban had been imposed.

8 July 2002 Britain 'sheltering al-Qaeda leader' - A senior al-Qaeda leader is reportedly being looked after by British intelligence at a safe house in northern England - but security sources are denying the claim. Abu Qatada is accused by the United States, Spain, France and Algeria of being a key influence in the 11 September attacks on the US.
Mr Qatada faces a death sentence in Jordan after being convicted in his absence of funding a bombing campaign, and is said by US and Spanish investigators to be Osama Bin Laden's ambassador in Europe.
He disappeared in mid-December after British authorities confiscated his passport, froze his assets and ordered him confined to his home in Acton, west London.
In April the Sunday Times said Mr Qatada had turned "supergrass" for MI5 - a theory fuelled by the arrests of several Muslim extremists in Germany who had met him.
Now senior European intelligence officials have reportedly told Time Magazine that Mr Qatada and his family are being lodged, fed and clothed by British intelligence services.
"The deal is that Abu Qatada is deprived of contact with extremists in London and Europe but can't be arrested or expelled because no one officially knows where he is," says the source, whose claims were corroborated by French authorities according to the magazine. "The British win because the last thing they want is a hot potato they can't extradite for fear of al-Qaeda reprisals but whose presence contradicts London's support of the war on terror."
But UK security sources have told BBC News there is "absolutely no substance" in the claim as British intelligence does not know where Abu Qatada is, having lost track of him after he disappeared.
Mr Qatada, a Jordanian-born Palestinian, was granted asylum in Britain in 1994 after claiming he was fleeing persecution for his religious beliefs. Also known as Sheikh Omar Abu Omar and Omar Mohammed Othman, he appeared on the United Nations' list of suspected Islamic terrorists issued after 11 September.
Baltasar Garzon, a Spanish National High Court judge charged with leading Spain's al-Qaeda crackdown, called the Muslim cleric the "spiritual head of the mujahideen in Britain". Judge Garzon, who questioned al-Qaeda suspects in Madrid last year, said Mr Qatada was the most important British contact of Spain-based terror suspect Abu Dahdah.
Dahdah, whose real name is Imad Eddin Barakat Yarbas, was one of eight suspected members of a group charged with preparing and carrying out the 11 September attacks.
Judge Garzon added that Mr Qatada had links with terror suspects in Germany, France, Italy, Belgium, Britain and Spain. Following the judge's comments, Mr Qatada told BBC Radio 4's Today programme Bin Laden "had a point" in his desire to rid his home country, Saudi Arabia, of any American influence.
"I believe in Jihad," he said. "And I believe in the necessity of liberating our nation and freeing it from bondage."