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Hamza's web of terror(Daily Mail Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)OUTWARDLY, his image was of a devoted man of Islam, a guiding spiritual influence for his followers. In reality, Abu Hamza was a preacher of hate spinning an evil web of terror. During a search of his home, police seized ten volumes of the 11-volume Encyclopaedia of Afghani Jihad. This 'blueprint for terrorism' described 'hitting' such targets as the Statue of Liberty, the Eiffel Tower and Big Ben - as well as airports, museums, football stadiums and 'large congregations of people at Christmas'. It also featured information on how to carry out an assassination, how to form a terrorist unit, plus recipes for poisons and instructions for other methods of killing. For the first time today, the role of the 47-year-old Egyptian-born cleric in radicalising the men responsible for Britain's worst mainland terror atrocity - the London suicide bombings - can be revealed. So too can the extraordinary influence Hamza and the Finsbury Park mosque had over some of the world's most notorious terrorists. For in the six years that the hookhanded former Mujahideen fighter was preaching his anti-Western sermons in North London, it became a breeding ground for terrorism under his controlling influence. He is suspected of helping in the recruiting and influencing of hundreds of British Muslims and of facilitating their journeys to terror training camps - trips often orchestrated and supported by a criminal network run through the mosque. A letter of reference from Hamza - a veteran of the 'Holy Wars' in Afghanistan and Bosnia - was all a young recruit to one of Osama Bin Laden camps needed. The men of evil under his spell To British and U.S. anti-terror investigators, those who came under Hamza's influence reads like a Who's Who of modern terrorism. It was to the mosque in 2002 that British-born London suicide bombers Mohammad Sidique Khan and Shehzad Tanweer were sent to hear the preachings of Hamza. That year, they spent at least two periods staying at the mosque where they are remembered sitting-in on 'tutorial groups' with young Algerians. The exact role played by Hamza and Finsbury Park in radicalising Khan and Tanweer remains unclear. But within months, like many others, they were in the training camps of Pakistan. A third member of the suicide cell is also known to have attended Finsbury Park. Jamaican-born Jermaine Lindsay listened to Hamza's fundamentalist rantings outside the mosque. It is no coincidence, say anti-terror investigators, that the three men came under Hamza's dark influence. Four Al Qaeda-trained terrorists who failed in major plots also 'came under his spell'. They were Brixton shoebomber Richard Reid, Gloucester grammar school boy and reluctant shoebomber Sajid Badat, police killer and ricin poison plotter Kamal Bourgass and the '20th' September 11 hijacker, Zacharias Moussaoui. The case of Moussaoui is particularly important because his family in France tell of how, after visiting Finsbury Park, he changed from being a happy, outgoing young man to being a hardline radical. Terror links that spanned the globe It was a course followed by other would-be Al Qaeda recruits from abroad, such as Frenchman David Courtellier and Tunisian ex-professional footballer Nizar Trabelsi. The links between Al Qaeda plotters and Finsbury Park extends still further - and to some of the most important figures in Bin Laden's movement. Abu Doha - an Algerian, also known as The Doctor - was arrested in February 2001 trying to leave Heathrow for Saudi Arabia on a fake passport. He is still fighting extradition to the U.S. over the alleged 'millennium plot' to blow up an airport in Los Angeles. He was based in London where the Finsbury Park mosque was a focal point for the Algerian community. Rabah Kadre took over control of the Doha network when the boss was detained. He is said to have been a regular at Finsbury Park and is now in jail in the UK fighting extradition to France. Djamel Beghal is said to have recruited Reid, Moussaoui and Trabelsi at Finsbury Park. He was later arrested in Dubai and jailed over an alleged plot to attack the U.S. Embassy in Paris. 'The malign influence and Hamza and Finsbury Park runs through the history of terror recruitment in Britain,' said an anti-terror specialist. The fanatics' recruiting sergeant During Hamza's Old Bailey trial, it was alleged that he became a 'recruiting sergeant for terrorism and murder', preaching hate to a 'tinderbox' congregation. His persuasive oratory and virulent anti-western rants inspired scores of impressionable young Muslims and he became a magnet for radicals. Security sources say Hamza was a key figure in the global jihadi movement in the late 1990s and early part of this decade, with an extensive sphere of influence. While he held sway, Finsbury Park mosque became a shelter for radical young Muslims arriving in Britain. 'There were an awful lot of people who came into the country, and it would seem that one of their first ports of call was Finsbury Park, to get orientated and get contacts and the like,' said a police source. Why the delay in charging him? Many question why Hamza was not detained earlier. One theory was that he was allowed to preach so that those visiting the mosque could be monitored. If that was the case, it did not work. Hamza has claimed he even came to an agreement with MI5 and Special Branch during nine alleged meetings he had with them, insisting they told him: 'You don't have to worry as long as we don't see blood on the streets.' By the time police finally raided the mosque in January 2003, Hamza had already been suspended from his post by the Charity Commission. It said he had been abusing his position for 'personal and political' purposes. The charity watchdog had acted following the September 11 attacks when he sparked outrage by allegedly saying: 'Many people will be happy, jumping up and down at this moment' and praising Bin Laden. It was the change in emphasis, focussing on the roots of Islamic terrorism, that eventually led to the arrest. The making of a preacher of hate Born in Egypt, the son of a Navy major and a headmistress, Mustafa Kamel Mustafa read civil engineering at Alexandria University before arriving in the UK aged 21 in July 1979. Within two months he was granted temporary leave to stay and worked as nightclub bouncer. He married British-born Valerie Traverso and was granted indefinite leave to remain in August 1982. Hamza claims the couple divorced in 1984. Later that year he married Nagat Chaffe, 44. They have seven children and live mainly on benefits. He converted to Islam at the age of 23 and became a British citizen after living here for five years. He later completed a civil engineering-degree at Brighton Polytechnic in 1989. Hamza went to Afghanistan after befriending Mujahideen but returned to the UK in September 1993 after being blinded and losing his hands. In 1995, he went to Bosnia and became a preacher in Luton in 1996. The following year he moved to Finsbury Park. The rantings that incited militants Within a couple of years, Hamza's sermons were attracting the attention of the security services. As Al Qaeda grew in strength, so did Hamza's rhetoric. His hate-filled rants attacked Jews and he expressed the hope that one day a Muslim would be 'sitting in the White House ruling from there like Prophet Mohammed said'. Violence was justified, he said, as long as it furthered the cause of Islam. Even after being banned from the mosque, Hamza's weekly rants continued on the pavement for another 16 months, costing taxpayers tens of thousands of pounds in policing bills. In a video shown to the Old Bailey jury, Hamza told his audience that even murdering children or carrying out suicide bombings could be justified. He said: 'If a child has been trained to kill and you can't stop his evil except with killing him, you do that.' In a video of an address given in 1997/98 to a private meeting in Whitechapel, East London, Hamza said Muslims living in this country 'are living in a toilet and are living like animals'. He calls on the audience to sacrifice itself and fight. Hamza described the first stage as 'Bleeding the enemy'. 'We ask Muslims to do that, to be capable to do that, to be capable to bleed the enemies of Allah anywhere, by any means. You can't do it by nuclear weapon, you do it by the kitchen knife, no other solution. You cannot do it by chemical weapons, you have to do it by mice poison. 'Like you imagine you have one small knife and you have a big animal in front of you. The size of the knife - you cannot slaughter him with this. You have to stab him here and there until he bleeds to death. Then you can cut up the meat as you like to, or leave it to the maggots. This is the first stage of Jihad.' After six years, why he was finally silenced Former Home Secretary David Blunkett stripped Hamza of his British citizenship and threatened to deport him as immigration investigators stated that he had 'provided support and advice to terrorist groups'. He had used the mosque as a 'centre of extremism and a safe haven for Islamic extremists, enabling them to develop the support and contacts necessary to further violent aims', it was alleged. Hamza was arrested in May 2004 but even then it was at the request of the American government who want to extradite him. The FBI request meant that police were granted a warrant to search his home. Officers seized 2,700 audio tapes and 570 video tapes, together with the ten volumes of the Encyclopaedia of Afghani Jihad. The U.S. had requested his extradition on an 11-count indictment and accused him of providing support and resources to terrorist organisations, including Al Qaeda. The indictment accused Hamza of involvement in terrorism in the Yemen, of trying to set up a terror training camp in Oregon, and of providing money for recruits to attend Al Qaeda terror training camps in Afghanistan. THE CHARGES Guilty of 6 charges of soliciting to murder Guilty of 3 charges related to 'stirring up racial hatred' Guilty of 1 charge of owning recordings related to 'stirring up racial hatred' Guilty of 1 charge of possessing 'terrorist encyclopaedia' THE RAVINGS Killing a Kaf.r (non believer) for any reason, you can say it is OK even if there is no reason for it You have to stab him here and there until he bleeds to death, until he dies, then you can cut his meat the way you like it or leave it for the maggots If the only way to hurt the enemies of Islam (is) by taking your own life... then it is allowed You must help... by .ghting and when you .ght you kill, you don't . just to negotiate or to show off Every court is a target, and every brothel is a target...and anybody who goes into these places is a target...you have to bleed the enemy The Jews will be destroyed, the state will be destroyed and some of the Jews will be running around hiding behind the trees and the stones and then they get cursed by the earth until there is not one of them left It is decreed that it will be the biggest Jewish graveyard in the world... We do not want the Jews to pull away from Palestine, but we want them to be buried there. This is God's decree If he wants to pull his weapon, don't ever pray for him, and don't even bury him, and leave him to be eaten by the hyena and cockroaches Yesterday there was a bomb... against the dogs of the US Navy that lost 15 sailors and there are ten of them still missing. The .Fish are eating them, thanks be to God THE jury heard Hamza used the notorious Finsbury Park Mosque as a recruiting ground for terrorists. Those who passed through its doors include some of the most dangerous fanatics of recent years. Here we reveal for the first time the full extent of Hamza's web. THE 7/7 BOMBERS MOHAMMAD SIDIQUE KHAN Ringleader of July 7 suicide bombers. Slept at the mosque in 2002, after meeting Hamza through another terror suspect, Haroon Rashid Aswat, currently awaiting extradition to the US. SHEHZAD TANWEER Travelled to London with Khan to meet Hamza in 2002, three years before they blew themselves up in the attacks on the capital which killed 52 and maimed hundreds more. JERMAINE LINDSAY, Attended Hamza's sermons outside Finsbury Park Mosque. His suicide bomb killed 25 on the Piccadilly Line train near Russell Square. DAVID AND JEROME COURTAILLER French Muslim convert David Courtailler, 29, is serving four years in Paris for helping setting up a terror network across Europe. Prayed at Finsbury Park, where he said he was given cash, a fake passport and details of a terror training Jerome, 30, also prayed at Finsbury Park and in jail in the Netherlands for terror offences. DJAMEL BEGHAL Algerian computer expert said to have recruited Reid, Moussaoui and Trabelsi at Finsbury Park. Now in jail a plot to attack the embassy in Paris. NIZAR TRABELSI A Tunisian exfootballer who spent time at Finsbury Park Mosque with Richard Reid and Djamel Beghal in 1998. Jailed for 10 years in Belgium in 2003 after he admitted plotting to drive a suicide car bomb into the canteen of a Nato airbase. JAMAL ZOUGAM One of the prime suspects for the Madrid train bombings which killed 191. The Moroccan, currently awaiting trial in Spain, visited Finsbury Park mosque and the Brixton Mosque used by Moussaoui and Richard Reid. RICHARD REID The 32-year-old Kent-born Muslim convert is currently serving a life sentence America for trying to blow up a transatlantic flight in December 2001 using a bomb concealed in his shoe. Visited Finsbury Park Mosque in 1998, where he met Hamza. ZACHARIAS MOUSSAOUI The socalled '20th hijacker' was arrested before he could board one of the doomed 9/11 airliners. A 36-year-old French Moroccan who lived in Brixton, he attended Finsbury Park mosque before moving to America where he learned to .y. Currently on trial in U.S. SAJID BADAT Former grammar school boy from Gloucester who plotted with Richard Reid to become a second shoe bomber. The 26-year-old decided not to go through with his own attack and was jailed last year after admitting his part in the plot. Badat was another of those who visited Finsbury Park mosque and met Hamza. KAMAL BOURGASS Algerian who stabbed Detective Constable Stephen Oake to death and seriously injured three other police officers in Manchester in 2003 as they tried to arrest him over a plot to manufacture the deadly poison ricin in London. He slept at Finsbury Park Mosque in the weeks before the ricin plot was discovered, and the recipes for making ricin were photocopied there. Bourgass, 31, is serving a life sentence. |