Wizblog

Undercover in Londonistan

Reprinted from Times Online at FPM is this jaw-dropping exposé of what the paper calls "The Academy of Hatred", a story facilitated by an undercover reporter from The Sunday Times who infiltrated a group of young London area Muslims that assembles reularly to receive spiritual instruction by one Sheikh Omar Bakri Mohammed and a cast of other speakers and role models. Please go read it all, but here's a sample:

During a two-month undercover investigation The Sunday Times has amassed hours of taped evidence and pages of transcripts which show how Bakri and his acolytes promote hatred of “non-believers” and “egg” their followers on to commit acts of violence, including suicide bombings.

The evidence details how his group, the Saviour Sect, preaches a racist creed of Muslim supremacy which, in the words of Bakri, aims at one day “flying the Islamic flag over Downing Street”.

In his two months with the sect, our reporter witnessed a gang of Bakri’s followers brutally beating up a Muslim who challenged their views. He listened as a succession of “religious leaders” ridiculed moderate Muslims and repeatedly justified war against the “kuffar” — non-Muslims.

He discovered that the core of the group consisted of about 40 young men guided by a handful of spiritual mentors. Many are of Bangladeshi origin, jobless and living in council flats in east London. They use aliases, taking the names of the prophet Muhammad’s companions.

At their meetings — which often included school-age teenagers — they were fed a constant diet of propaganda warning that the kuffar are out to destroy them.

Integration with British society is scorned, as is any form of democratic process. Followers are encouraged to exploit the benefits system. They avoid jobs which could bring them into contact with western women or might lead them to contribute to the economy of a nation they are taught to despise...

...ON July 3, Sheikh Omar Brooks of Al-Ghuraaba addressed the group at its Saturday night lecture.

The 30-year-old, who comes from a Caribbean background and used to work as an electrician, converted to Islam after coming under Bakri’s spell. He claimed that he had had “military training” in Pakistan. His speech that night at Oxford House, a Victorian hall in a side street off Bethnal Green, was intended to stir passions. He said that it was imperative for Muslims to “instil terror into the hearts of the kuffar”.

Occasionally sipping a can of Fanta and gesticulating wildly, he declared: “I am a terrorist. As a Muslim, of course I am a terrorist.”

It was not just our reporter’s group who were present. Schoolchildren in T-shirts bearing the words “mujaheddin” and “warriors of Allah” listened intently as Brooks said he did not wish to die “like an old woman” in bed.

“I want to be blown into pieces,” he declared, “with my hands in one place and my feet in another.”

Brooks — who caused an outcry last week when he told BBC2’s Newsnight that he would not condemn suicide bombers — called on a group of burqa-clad women in the audience to help the fight by making weapons.

He told the audience that it was a Muslim’s duty to stay apart from the rest of society: “Never mix with them. Never let your children play with their children.”

He added: “This hall is like our fortress against the kuffar and the so-called Muslims like the McB (the Muslim Council of Britain).”

Warming to his theme, he said: “They will build bridges and we will break them; they will build tall buildings and we will bring them down.” The audience rippled with laughter at the obvious reference to September 11, 2001.

The evidence amassed by The Sunday Times is now being reviewed by prosecutors, and Bakri is one of three "prominent Islamic clerics" that may end up being charged, according to today's report in The Australian:

Anti-terrorism prosecutors will meet senior officers at Scotland Yard within the next few days to discuss possible treason charges against Omar Bakri Mohammed, Abu Izzadeen and Abu Uzair, the Attorney-General's office confirmed.

It is believed prosecutors could also seek access to tapes made by an undercover Sunday newspaper reporter who claims to have recorded members of the radical Saviour Sect lauding the London suicide bombers of 7 July as "the fantastic four".

A spokeswoman for Lord Goldsmith's office said: "The Attorney General and the DPP have personally discussed and looked at remarks made by three named individuals in the press.

UPDATE 8/11: Great Britain has detained and is preparing to deport 10 foreigners, including several radical Muslim clerics, that they view as threats to security. The linked story reports that Sheikh Omar Bakri has fled Britain, and has now been arrested in Lebanon.