Everyone’s favourite Sheikh, Omar “won’t the Royal Navy please save me?” Bakri has announced that al-Muhajiroun is being ‘re-launched’. In truth, the group has continued to act as a unit ever since Bakri theoretically disbanded them in 2004, so it will be interesting to see what the practical affect of this announcement turns out to be.
Here’s where it gets interesting.
Everyone says that al-Muhajiroun is banned, but the press release announcing the re-launch of the group says:
We would also like to stress particularly to the British public that Al-Muhajiroun is a completely legal organisation and hence the recommencement of its structure, activities and projects should be seen in this light.
I started investigating this and it turns out that the Statutory Instrument (pdf) which announced the ban in 2006 only officially proscribes two of al-Muhajiroun’s successor groups – al-Ghurabaa and The Saved Sect. Therefore, as it stands, al-Muhajiroun is technically legal.
This is a terrible oversight and needs to be addressed immediately. It won’t make any meaningful change as Bakri’s acolytes will continue operating regardless of such measures, but it would send an important psychological message.
Lets see what happens.
7 Comments
It seems that the only way to do so is to be able to demonstrate that al-Muhajiroon disseminates “material which it is considered falls within section 21 of the Terrorism Act 2006″, which is the case with its splinter groups al-Ghuraba and the unfortunately named ‘SS’.
So the group who wanted to let Osama bin Laden, Fadlallah and Omar Abdul-Rahman address a conference in London are back on the scene. I know it’s done the rounds many times, but here’s the conference’s flyer from before the cancellation of the most nutterific guests.
Happy days.
I disagree. I don’t believe that a proscribed organisation can escape a ban, merely by changing its name. It would have to be a materially different organisation – for example, with different aims, personnel, structure, and so on.
Frankly, I don’t think that Al Muhaj has changed its structure – and certainly not its aims – for about a decade. Same people, same policies, banned under any name.
Al Muhaj had some posters up, in its original name, in Bethnal Green a few months ago. They were plastered all over the RESPECT window.
i personally think that any amendment to the statutory instrument that allows al-muhajiroonies to be discombobulated should be signed into law by topless models.
b’shalom
bananabrain
@ David T,
But why do you think the ALM personnel haven’t been arrested/shut down? Is it just a tactical position, or something more?
When Omar Bakri claimed Al-Muhajiroun was founded in Mecca, Saudi Arabia on 3 March 1983, HT accused him of being a liar. Nobody in HT had ever heard of Al-Muhajiroun before 1996 and there is no record of it existing anywhere at all prior to this date. Also it is not allowed for a member of HT to be with another organisation and not declare it. So this was a blatant lie.
OBM has told many lies over the years. I remember he used to say that he had been shot in the leg whilst he fought against Syrian security forces in Hama, Syria 1982. But in interviews to the press he denied he had ever taken part in violent struggle against any regime.
His claims of studying with certain respected scholars turned out to be false. In the beginning he used to say he followed the Shafi school of thought. But when he realised no Shafi scholar would allow the crazy things he was saying he changed his opinions. He then became a Salafi and started saying ‘now I don’t need to follow scholars…Its Quran and Sunnah directly’. Everyone who disagreed with his ideas on jihad became a kaafir. Amongst his followers was Omar Sharif, the failed suicide bomber from Derby. When Omar Bakri finally did get the chance to fight the kind of ‘Jihad’ he had been calling for he fled and started asking Royal Navy for help.
OBM is basically a deceptive liar saying different things to different people. He is a confidence trickster whose only aim is to stay in the public limelight by any means necessary. This is a trait his followers like Anjum Choudary continue to this day.
Bakri is a twit. As an Islamist he’s failed miserably. Maybe he should try doing something different like ‘Pole dancing’ or something : )