Probes into the movements of the ‘Detroit 253′ bomber, 23 year old Nigerian student Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, have shown links to radical Islamic groups in the UK. They also show that he made a number of visits to East London Mosque.
The New York Times also reports Abdulmutallab studied at the University College London between 2005 and 2008 where he was president of the UCL Islamic Society.
Security agencies in Britain are investigating reports that Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the young Nigerian accused of attempting to blow up a transatlantic airliner, contacted radical Muslims while studying at university in London, The Independent understands.
Mohammed Mutallab, a cousin of the arrested man, has claimed that the 23-year-old came under the influence of extremist groups while in this country, and associates claim he visited the East London Mosque, which has attracted criticism for hosting Muslim hardline preachers, three times.
A shortened version of this article has been published on Comment is Free
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It is now clear US Army Major Nidal Hasan had a series of connections to the Islamist cleric, Anwar al-Awlaki . For those of us who have studied, with increasing concern, the extreme teachings of this cleric, this tragedy is the inevitable consequence of un-checked Islamist radicalisation. This situation has been made all the more distressing by the apparent lack of concern shown by the US Intelligence and Military authorities in taking Awlaki’s influence seriously.
Even before Major Nidal had fired a single bullet in Fort Hood, the US authorities knew about his increasingly vocal radicalisation and that he had attended the Dar al-Hijrah mosque in Virgina at the time Awlaki was its head Imam. Nidal had also been the subject of an FBI investigation after it was discovered that he made communication with Awlaki by email. There was certainly no lack of overt clues.
In May 1995 a Channel 4 documentary ‘Bangladesh, War Crimes File’ directed by David Bergman made allegations of the involvement of three British Bangladeshis in the genocide committed in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) in 1971.
Chowdhury Mueen-Uddin
Chowdhury Mueen-Uddin, one of those individuals named in the documentary, was alleged to have been instrumental in plotting the assassinations of intellectuals, journalists and students with the al-Badr death squads, assisted by the Jamaat-e-Islami. The program included eyewitness accounts directly linking Mueen-Uddin to the murders of two men; Dr. M H Choudhaury, a professor at the University of Dhaka, and Najmul Huq, a journalist.
Channel 4 received a letter from Chowdhury Mueen-Uddin’s lawyers and very little of that documentary has been heard of since. Until today, when Delwar Hossain re-opened the discussion on the Bangladesh War Crimes and Mueen-Uddin’s involvement in them in an article on CiF:
Information about the high levels of interwoven activity between Labour Party councillors working for Tower Hamlets council and Islamist activists in East London Mosque (London Muslim Centre) appears to be reaching the public domain.
An article in the Sunday Express yesterday, by Ted Jeory, details the extent to which the Labour party in Tower Hamlets is infiltrated by members of the Saudi-backed hardline Islamist group, the Islamic Forum Europe (IFE):
The growing influence of the East London Mosque, whose education wing was built with Saudi money, on the Labour party is causing concern in Downing Street.
Gordon Brown, Justice Secretary Jack Straw and new Communities Secretary John Denham have been briefed on Islamic groups based there.
Party officials have held crisis talks about one group in particular, the Islamic Forum of Europe.
Senior party members fear it has infiltrated Labour and exerts too much power over MPs and councillors in areas with large Muslim populations.
This article by Habibi is cross-posted from Harry’s Place
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Abdur Raheem Green, a British convert to Islam, is one of the founders of the “Islamic Education & Research Academy” (iERA). As reported here, iERA hopes to host extremists Bilal Philips and Hussein Ye in a UK dawah (Islamic propagation) tour running from June 23 to 29.
Green’s father was a colonial administrator in Africa. According to Green, he took pride in the Empire. His father in turn was a high court judge in Bombay. Well, here is Green himself admonishing Pakistan for not being Islamic enough:
Naturally Israel too must be scourged. This is from an Islamic Voice magazine interview in 1997:
