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Extremist cleric urges Muslims via Internet to join Al-Qaeda

LYON, France - France on Tuesday expelled an Algerian-born Islamic prayer leader who condoned wife beating, part of a French campaign to punish Muslim clerics preaching violence. Abdelkader Bouziane boarded an Algeria-bound flight from the southeastern city of Lyon, Interior Minister Dominique de Villepin told parliament. "I salute this decision that today allows us to pursue, to expulse foreign citizens who insult or call for violence against women," he said. Bouziane, who was an imam or prayer leader in the Lyon suburb of Venissieux, was first deported to his native Algeria in April on orders from the Interior Ministry. But...

Muslim cleric Abu Hamza, accused by the US of being a terrorist, was further remanded in custody when he appeared in court via video link from prison. Hamza, wearing a pale blue prison shirt with white T-shirt underneath and a skull cap, was visible from the waist up on screen at Bow Street Magistrates Court in central London. He is currently being held at the top-security Belmarsh prison in south east London. The 46-year-old, facing extradition to the US, did not speak during the 10-minute hearing but nodded his head as the clerk introduced the court. Hugo Keith, representing the...

Radical Muslim clerk Abu Hamza has been described in court as an al Qaida "hero" like Osama bin Laden. The one-eyed, hook-handed preacher appeared at Belmarsh Magistrates' Court where he is fighting extradition to the US to face terror charges. The start of the hearing was delayed while security guards found restraining body belts after realising they could not handcuff Hamza. Wearing a red T-shirt, khaki trousers, and with a khaki coat draped across his arms, the 46-year-old spoke only to confirm his name and that he understood the US wanted to extradite him. James Lewis QC, acting for the...

HOMELAND INSECURITY D.C. imam tied to hijackers subject of Green Quest probe Detained at JFK last Oct., but then released after State 'pulled' warrant Posted: August 16, 2003 1:00 a.m. Eastern By Paul Sperry © 2003 WorldNetDaily.com WASHINGTON – A Muslim cleric who had closed-door meetings with two of the 9-11 hijackers was detained last October at a New York airport after federal authorities identified him as the subject of a post-9-11 terror money-laundering investigation, according to a U.S. Customs incident report obtained exclusively by WorldNetDaily. But the cleric, Anwar Nasser Aulaqi, was released soon after being taken into custody,...

BAGHDAD - A prominent Muslim cleric said in a sermon Friday that Iraqis everywhere must threaten U.S. interests and "set them ablaze." Abdel-Razzaq al-Saadi's sermon at Friday prayers was carried live on Iraqi state television. "The entire world, Muslims and non-Muslims, is cursing the intentions of the American administration against Iraq which, God willing, will be frustrated," al-Saadi said. Al-Saadi's title is imam of Umm al-Maarek, or Mother of All Battles Mosque in Baghdad. "Mother of all Battles," was the war cry uttered by Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein before the Gulf War in 1991. Al-Saadi said in his sermon it...

Feb. 24, 2003 London cleric convicted for soliciting murder in sermons By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS A Muslim cleric who allegedly urged followers to kill "nonbelievers" was convicted Monday of soliciting murder. A jury at the Old Bailey found Sheikh Abdullah el-Faisal guilty of three charges of soliciting murder, and three charges of incitement of racial hatred. Sentencing was set for March 7. El-Faisal, 39, denied encouraging anyone to commit murder, making threatening or abusive tape recordings and stirring up racial hatred. Prosecutors said el-Faisal preached across Britain and sold Arabic-language tapes of his speeches in specialist shops. They said his...

BALI: Indonesian police said on Monday that their chief suspect in the Bali bomb blasts, a man who has confessed to involvement in the attack, was a student of detained Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Bashir. Major-General Made Mangku Pastika, head of the multinational police investigation into the Bali attacks, told a news conference on the resort island that Bashir was also a co-founder of the Jemaah Islamiah militant Muslim network in Malaysia. It was the first time that Indonesia had tied the 64-year-old cleric to Jemaah Islamiah, a Southeast Asian militant group that has been linked to Osama Bin Laden's...

WASHINGTON: Muslim cleric Abu Qatada, suspected of being a pivotal figure in Osama bin Laden's network, is being held by British intelligence services, Time magazine reported Sunday. According to the report, which cites senior European intelligence officials, Qatada and his family are in a safe house in the north of England. Qatada dropped out of sight in mid-December after British authorities confiscated his passport and froze his assets, Time said in its issue due to hit newsstands on Monday. The Palestinian refugee, also known as Omar Mohammed Othman and Omar Abu Omar, figured on the list of suspected terrorists issued...

A leading conservative cleric on Friday called on the people of Iran to rise up against corruption and emphasized the need to enforce Islamic laws. "Koranic laws should all be carried out today, small or big, they should all be carried out because all of the Koranic laws are great," Ayatollah Ahmad Janati told worshippers during weekly Muslim prayers at Tehran University. Addressing the Iranian people, the cleric who serves as secretary of the powerful conservative-led Guardians Council, a body, which decides whether proposed laws conform with Islam, said, "I ask of you to rise up against corruption! "Wherever you...