Britain’s near-three million Muslims in the dock again

[Anthea]

RADICAL Muslim cleric Anjem Choudary is using a chain of children’s sweet shops owned by his wealthy brother as a vehicle for bringing about his dream of an Islamic revolution.



Leaflets encouraging parents to adopt Shariah Law are being distributed at innocent looking stores called Yummy Yummy, which were established and are overseen by Anjem’s elder brother, Yazdani.

The shops sell lemon bonbons, kola cubes, aniseed balls and tasty apple laces, while also offering leaflets to parents and children that state it is time for an “Islamic Revolution”.

Two Victorian-style shops have already opened in east London, while a third is planned within weeks.

One of the shops in New Road, Whitechapel, is on the same site raided by police 18 months ago following a Sunday Express investigation which identified it as the headquarters of Anjem’s prayer and preaching circuit.

Leaflets lying on the stores’ counters yesterday included a batch from a group called “Women4Shariah”, an outfit linked to Anjem Choudary.

The leaflets, which contain disturbing images of women and children suffering and grieving, are advertising a conference next month that will assert it is “Time for Revolution”.

Video broadcasts at the conference will include speakers from Pakistan, Indonesia and Syria, the literature says.

Other Choudary-linked organisations such as Muslim Prisoners and Islamic Revolution are also advertised prominently on the shop’s leaflets.

A Women4Shariah Facebook page is also highlighted on which taunts are made about the slaying of Drummer Lee Rigby in Woolwich on Wednesday.

Less than 24 hours after his murder, a statement on the page was added, saying: “Muslims should not play the victim and be cornered by the media or feel obliged to condemn or distance themselves from something they not responsible for.

“The real terrorist is the British (sic) and its foreign policy - they should be apologising to the British people.

“The British took the war to Muslim lands – Iraq, Afghanistan and Mali - so if British ppl feel the repercussions then the leaders are to blame.”

A publicity video on YouTube for the conference shows graphic photographs of dead children with a commentary stating: “Your Muslims are being massacred. “Bombed, murdered, raped, tortured. Your Ummah is calling you.”

When asked yesterday whether promoting Islamist leaflets in a children’s shop was appropriate, one worker pointed to a pile of NHS advice cards and said: “There’s a lot of leaflets here.”

Pressed on the fact it was a children’s shop, he said: “This is a sweet shop. Can I ask you to leave.”

Records at Companies House show the stores were established by Yazdani Choudary, a 50-year-old businessmen who, in contrast to benefits claimant Anjem, lives in a detached house worth an estimated £750,000 in Purley, Surrey.

When Anjem was asked yesterday whether Yazdani ever attends his notorious rallies in central London, he said: “Not really.”

There is no suggestion that either Yazdani or Anjem have been involved in any criminal activity.

The investigation by the Sunday Express in 2011 centred on the links between him and his brother’s expensive Islamist activities.

We revealed that Yazdani was, and remains, a director of an IT company that had received almost £1million of Government Learn Direct contracts.

Although a subsequent inquiry by the Business Department found no evidence of any misallocation of funds to Anjem’s activities, Coalition cuts mean the company no longer enjoys Government deals.

We also revealed two years ago that Yazdani had hired a convicted terrorist fundraiser and Anjem devotee Shah Jalal Hussain to help his other graphic design business activities at the property he had bought in New Road.

At that property, he had created a printing shop at street level and space in the basement for Anjem’s teaching operation, the Centre for Islamic Services.

The building was raided by police in November, 2011, when Home Secretary Theresa May banned Anjem’s notorious Muslims Against Crusades organisation.

The Yummy Yummy store now operates from the site of the printing shop.

Yazdani could not be contacted for comment yesterday, but Yummy Yummy’s website states: “When we were growing up, we would eat all kinds of sweets…without realising they were not suitable for a Muslim halal diet.

“We have become more aware of pork/beef gelatine and other animal products in the sweets we eat.”

In an article for today’s Sunday Express, Home Affairs Committee Keith Vaz said banning organisations like Muslims Against Crusades and its predecessor Al Muhajiroun, of which one of Wednesday’s murder suspects was a member, was “not enough” because they simply reform under new “front” names.

Anjem and his followers were once considered the “clowns of jihadism”.

Terror experts say changes in the way Al Qaeda operates has made Choudary’s followers more useful, particularly for the kind of lone wolf attacks that sickened Britain on Wednesday.

Intelligence analysts say they radicalise themselves, for example by reading Al Qaeda’s online magazine Inspire.

The Sunday Express has seen its latest terrifying edition, which encourages readers to use simple methods such as pouring oil on the bends of narrow roads to kill motorists.

Former Prime Minister Tony Blair is also singled out as a welcome assassination target, claiming his security protection has been lowered since being out of office.

One intelligence source predicted the Drummer Rigby’s suspected killers, Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale, would become heroes and poster-boys in the next edition of Inspire.

George Readings, of corporate intelligence company Stirling Assynt, said: “The killing of a British soldier will be widely praised in the jihadist community.

“The perpetrators’ efforts to secure as much publicity as possible will mean that it is likely to feature in Al-Qaeda propaganda and the continued success of these tactics will fuel further attacksAnjem Choudary said he did not want to comment on the Women4Shariah leaflets in his brother’s shops.

Meanwhile, he said he had “no idea” that suspect Adebolajo had apparently been approached by MI5 six months ago.

The claim was made by another of his followers Abu Nusaybah on Friday night.

Asked whether he himself had ever been approached by MI5, Mr Choudary said: “Not to work for them, no.”

http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/402663 ... sweet-shop

[Feyli_kord]

Why is he still allowed to be in britain?

[Shirko]

Why is he still allowed to be in britain?

Good question. They breed them so that they can send their ideology back with them.

[kurdistanis1]

Who cares? this is the Kurdistan forums, not britain. Go post your trash somewhere else. we don't care about either side, so quit posting this bs here.

[Anthea]

Who cares? this is the Kurdistan forums, not britain. Go post your trash somewhere else. we don't care about either side, so quit posting this bs here.

Anything that increases racial hatred, especially Islamophobia, causes conflict and possibly violence towards Muslims. Perhaps an increase in violence towards Muslims does not effect you as your lack of concern shows you to be a non-Muslim yourself

[Anthea]

EXPRESS ONLINE

DAVID CAMERON last night faced calls for suspected Islamist fanatics to be rounded up and deported, jailed or put under house arrest.



MPs and campaigners demanded a crackdown on preachers of hate and other extremists in response to the ­murder of soldier Lee Rigby.

Home Secretary Theresa May yesterday promised a string of measures to prevent extremist clerics spreading their poisonous message in prisons, universities and on the internet. But critics urged the Government to go further in tackling the fanatics.

They want drastic action – including the return of control orders and wider use of immediate deportations.

Colonel Bob Stewart, a Tory MP and former commander of UN forces in Bosnia, said those suspected of plotting or inciting violence should be put under curfews and round-the-clock surveillance by the security services. Islamist preachers from overseas caught peddling hatred in the UK should be immediately deported, he said.

“These people think they are in a war against us and that is how we should respond to them. If they are foreign-born and inciting violence, they should be chucked out.

“We also need, as fast as possible, legislation to allow the interception of communications. And we should revisit the issue of control orders.

“As a society, we have been showing too much decency and tolerance to people who seek to kill, maim and incite violence.” He also called for the Human Rights Act to be suspended immediately to stop European judges preventing UK courts cracking down on hate preachers.

Douglas Murray, of the Henry Jackson Society think tank, said: “The Government keeps talking about dealing with preachers of hate but nothing ever changes.

“I want to see us charging and imprisoning people who are organising and inciting violence. And I want to see those who are preaching hatred deported.

“Clerics like Abu Qatada should be put on a plane tomorrow. And those we are not able to deport should be locked up.” Moderate Muslim Umair Iqbal, 26, who set up a Facebook group in memory of Drummer Rigby, said: “I agree that preachers of hate are the ones who need to be tackled.

“They don’t commit crimes themselves but warp the minds of younger people who are braver, naive and largely uneducated.

“There’s not much else that can go wrong. It seems like we have experienced everything besides things turning nuclear. I welcome strong action. Anyone preaching any kind of hate simply breeds more hate.”

http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/402900 ... -preachers

[Anthea]

The Independent

The horrendous murder of Drummer Lee Rigby, a soldier of the 2nd Battalion the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, has put Britain’s near-three million Muslims in the dock again.

That the murder happened in broad daylight in a peaceful suburban road in Woolwich, south East London, was shocking enough. That the murderers wanted it captured on camera (in a video released on international media) was worse. These men were sick, cowardly and their actions beyond disgraceful. We took some small comfort from the bravery of a mum who confronted the attackers and risked all by asking them to hand over their weapons.

Unfortunately, since Wednesday last week there was a massive spike in Islamophobic abuse. According to the anti-Muslim hate crime project, Tell MAMA, 83 new incidents of threats or violence reported by Muslims to its helpline in the first 24 hours after the murder; in total more than 170 incidents and 9 mosque attacks have been reported since Wednesday.

Ever since the 9/11 atrocities Muslims and their religion are seen through the prism of suspicion, but the Prime Minister’s statesman-like comment: “There is nothing in Islam that justifies this truly dreadful act,” gave a clear message to the British public not to point fingers to any one community or religion. London Mayor Boris Johnson spoke in the same language and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg held a meeting with community leaders to find better ways of working together.

British Muslims, haunted by the spectre of the 2005 7/7 London bombings, unequivocally condemned the gruesome murder. Hundreds of prominent imams came up with an unambiguous public condemnation and Britain’s largest Muslim umbrella body, the Muslim Council of Britain, issued a statement describing the killing as "a truly barbaric act that has no basis in Islam and we condemn this unreservedly".

What motivated the killers to carry out this shocking act? Were they deranged, online fantasists, hyper-radicalised, over-politicised; or were they inspired by the ‘evil ideology of ‘Islamism’, as some vocal Islamophobes want us to believe? This needs deeper research and proper remedy. It is now clear that they were within the MI5 radar and were known to be radicalised by now-banned Al-Muhajiroun group run by Anjem Choudary, and created by Omar Bakri Mohammed; one of the killers was even offered a job by MI5! Worries will be expressed about MI5’s role in dealing with Muslim extremists and also how these extremists slipped through their net.

The Government is now setting up a taskforce to ‘look again’ at its strategy for dealing with extremism and radicalisation in the wake of this murder. In doing so, we hope wisdom prevails and a balancing act between freedom of expression and our security is preserved. We need evidence-based strategies to ensure such violence does not occur again. We must be vigilant to ensure we do not inadvertently fall into the trap of violent extremists, making our society less free, divided and suspicious of each other.

As citizens, we need tough conversation within our communities – and beyond – about the causes of extremism and the role of religious and educational institutions, as well as prisons, online and social media. Our actions thereon have to be knowledge-based and nuanced and with better understanding of our diverse cultural or religious expressions. A muddled, lazy and pre-conceived discussion about what constitutes ‘extremism’ versus, say, social conservatism, political disagreement or peaceful protests, will not assist in our end goal of preventing future attacks. The language, terminology and jargon have to be well-defined so that extremists from any quarter do not feel inflated with their criminal acts and ordinary people are not misinformed.

For our common good we need to be seen as treating all communities equally. Sadly in recent times we have seen terrorism carried out by a Muslim to be ‘Islamicised’, bringing distress and fear to a whole community, whereas if done by a non-Muslim it is seen as an individual aberration. This goes against the teaching of all Abrahamic faiths, which say: ‘No soul should bear the burden for another’. It is also contrary to basic justice. Why should all Muslims as a block pay for the actions of a few bad apples?

A creative space is needed for us to discuss all the serious issues that our young people, particularly young Muslims, face. Treating a whole community with suspicion, and its young people only through the prism of security, may satisfy a small section of politicians and pundits but is an unrealistic route to solve problems. We need an ‘out-of-box’ imaginative and bold national and local leadership, including from within the Muslim community. We also need non-judgmental contributions from the mainstream political and media class, and from academic and policy-making institutions. There is no shortcut to achieving our goal of protecting life and keeping ourselves safe.

It is vital to forge a genuine partnership with those in mosques and other organisations who have already shown an extraordinary unity and zeal to fight the menace of extremism. In order to do this we need to look into the effectiveness of the current Prevent policy. Prevent under the Labour government failed because it conflated security with community cohesion. The Coalition’s Prevent agenda was based on the presumption of a ‘conveyor belt theory’, assuming that individuals start off angry and disaffected, then become more religious and politicised. Finally they turn to terror. There is hardly any evidence to prove this theory. Its ineffectiveness lies with the fact that mainstream Muslim groups were seen as ‘non-violent extremists’ by people in power. There was no buy-in from the Muslim community. Far more important, so many academics now believe, is the power of ‘self-radicalisation’ (particularly via the Internet and common to most ‘lone wolf’ scenarios).

Secondly, it is important for all of us to be careful with language, terminology and rhetoric in describing various Muslim groups and individual actions. Insensitive use of some core Islamic words taken from Arabic, such as ‘Jihadists’ and ‘Islamists’, displays huge ignorance of Muslim culture and vocabulary. Most Muslims do feel really hurt when they see indiscriminate and distorted use of a venerable word ‘Jihad’ (that means ‘utmost effort’). In the same vein, although some try to differentiate between the words Islam (‘willful submission to God’) and Islamism, many Muslims see this as an extension of a Cold War vocabulary, badly used in place of Communism; Islamism can mean different things to different people.

Thirdly, the role of media cannot be underestimated in aggravating this situation. Our fourth estate has often miserably failed when it comes to Muslims and Islam. Even our national pride, the BBC, often proves insensitive in covering Muslim issues. The recent example is their decision to give airtime to the Muslim community’s most hated person, Anjem Choudary, in its flagship Newsnight programme, angering many.

In a world torn by division, sanity and wisdom is needed. Three years ago this month, President Obama declared the ‘War on Terror’ was over. It is a poignant reminder that we find better ways of dealing with insecurity and terror in our midst.

http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/com ... 36145.html