Posted on 11/18/2002 11:08:33 AM PST by Destro
Monday » November 18 » 2002
'It's OK to kill non-Muslims': radical cleric
Segments of taped messages have been posted on Web site
Michael Petrou
The Ottawa Citizen
LONDON -- A radical London-based Muslim cleric has been caught on film urging his followers to kill non-Muslims and commit acts of terrorism.
Tapes of Sheik Abu Hamza, a cleric affiliated with London's Finsbury Park mosque, telling an audience that non-believers should be killed or sold into slavery have been smuggled onto the Internet.
The tapes, which appear to have been made for propaganda purposes, were allegedly given by Mr. Hamza to a researcher who posed as a supporter and infiltrated his inner circle.
"If a kafir person (non-believer) goes in a Muslim country, he is like a cow. Anybody can take him. That is the Islamic law," Mr. Hamza says on one tape.
"If a kafir is walking by and you catch him, he's booty. You can sell him in the market. Most of them are spies. And even if they don't do anything, if Muslims cannot take them and sell them in the market, you just kill them. It's OK."
Mr. Hamza also praises the al-Qaeda bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania that killed 224 people.
"If Muslims are having a war against these people, than yes, it is legitimate," he says.
He then praised attacks against ships from non-Muslim countries: "If a ship which loses its way and comes to a Muslim land, they'll take it as booty."
A terrorist attack in 2000 on the USS Cole killed 17 American sailors. The attack has been linked to Muslim militants in Britain, but Mr. Hamza has never been charged.
Despite accusations he recruits for al-Qaeda, Mr. Hamza's only punishment in Britain has been a High Court order banning him from preaching at the Finsbury Park mosque. However, when the Citizen visited the mosque several weeks ago, worshippers had his phone number handy.
"It's all fabrication. He's just taking clips and taking it out of context, as usual," Mr. Hamza said last night when asked about the videos.
He scoffed at suggestions the tapes may lead to his arrest.
He said he can't be accused of inciting people to commit violent acts because he's a cleric who only preaches Muslim law. "I say the reality that's in the Muslim books anyway. Whether I say it or not, it's in the books."
The sheik, who was born in Egypt and grew up in England, then alluded to more violence -- using language similar to that used by Osama bin Laden.
"Just as non-Muslim blood is hot, Muslim blood is hot, too," he said. "It's for them to worry about. When they kill, they will be killed."
Other videos show British Muslims fighting in what appears to be Bosnia, bragging about killing Serbs and carrying out a holy war with other Muslims from all over the world, including Canada.
In one tape, a British medical student, who says his name is Abu Ibrahim, is shown holding a Kalashnikov machine-gun and mocking Muslims whose only contribution to jihad is to donate money to an Islamic charity.
"What we lack are Muslims that are prepared to suffer and sacrifice," he says.
Somewhat bizarrely, Mr. Ibrahim then says fighting a holy war isn't too tough.
"People think that when you come to Bosnia, you sit and there are shells falling around you," he says. "They don't know that we have kebabs. They don't know that we have ice cream and cakes here. ... They don't know that this is a nice holiday for us."
Mr. Ibrahim's speech then becomes gruesome.
"You see the Serbs, the same people that raped our brothers and sisters. You see their dead bodies lying around in the hundreds. You feel that you've achieved something."
Segments of the videos are posted on the Internet at www.johnathangaltfilms.com .
Thank you both for your works.
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