Sheikh Omar Bakri Mohammed har noe komisk ved seg. Det er som om man ikke tar ham helt alvorlig. Men bombene i London viser at de mener alvor.

Bakri var leder for Al-Muhajiroun til organisasjonen ble oppløst i oktober i fjor. I stedet kom to nye grupper: Saviour Sect og Al-Ghuraaba. Det er liten tvil om at Bakri fortsatt er lederen. Sunday Times greide å få en journalist med i Saviour Sect, og avsløringen av hva som sies bak lukkede dører viser med all mulig tydelighet at dette miljøet støtter terroren.

Retorikken er ekstrem:

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».

Da de tre bak den mislykkede 21-7 aksjonen ble tatt, beklaget Bakri at de ikke hadde dekket seg til for overvåkningskameraene.

Referring to the speed with which police issued closed-circuit television pictures of the suspects in the London attacks, Bakri suggested that they should have covered their faces to conceal their identity from prying CCTV cameras. This sparked a discussion with his right-hand man, Anjem Choudhury, which was taped by our reporter.

Choudhury: «It’s CCTV, sheikh; that’s the killer. You can’t go anywhere without them monitoring you now: down the street; out the station.»

Den delen av Saviour Sect journalisten kom i kontakt med, var en bedrøvelig forsamling:

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.

In regular lectures and sermons it is instilled into them that Islam is a religion of violence. While publicly they did not defend the London attacks, they speak differently in private.

En av de yngre lederne forteller at mange av medlemmene er tidligere junkies.

Gruppen legger stor vekt på ikke på noen måte å være en del av samfunnet rundt dem: ikke ha jobb, utnytte trygdesystemet, ikke ha bilforsikring, og ikke leke med de vantros barn.

Det er urovekkende at skoleelever deltar på møtene, og en kan tenke seg at for dem er dette noe kult. De lokkes inn i noe de ikke forstår rekkevidden av. På et møte for Al-Ghuraaba i London 3. juli var også Saviour Sect med: Taler var leder av Al-Ghuraaba, Omar Brooks.

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.»

For deltakerne gikk ekstremisme og sosialt samvær godt sammen:

As his three-year-old son played at his side, he launched into a bitter racist attack. The Jews, he said, were «the most disgusting and greedy people on earth».

Så kom 7-7. Bakri lå lavt. Han ville ikke stå frem i mediene og måtte ta avstand. Han var redd noen av medlemmene kunne si for mye.

The sheikh avoided difficult questions about the attacks by refusing to answer his telephone. He advised all his followers to do the same in the case they incriminated themselves. The sect closed down its meetings and stopped leaflet campaigns, fearing reprisals.

While he was saying nothing publicly, Bakri did, however, address a private meeting held for prayers at the Selby Centre in Wood Green, north London.

Before the prayers started, our reporter joined a small group of men sitting on the floor of the dilapidated 1960s hall in a circle with Bakri.

Bakri sighed. «So, London under attack,» he said. Then, leaning forward, he added: «Between us, for the past 48 hours I’m very happy.»
…
Bakri said. If anyone were to ask what they felt about it, they should answer that as Muslims they have no «feelings», «ideas» or «personal judgment».

Medlemmene blir hele tiden fortalt at de er verdt mye mer enn andre mennesker. Det er rasisme satt i system. Det er en konspirasjon mot dem, og alle muslimer. De er avantgarden som skal forsvare islam. Det er bedre å være på offensiven. Alle midler er tillatt mot kuffar (vantro).

«The toe of the Muslim brothers is better than all the kuffar on the earth,» Bakri said in one sermon. «Islam is superior, nothing supersedes it and the Muslim is superior.»

Other regular speakers claimed that Islam was constantly under attack in Britain — and that the best form of defence was attack.

One, who called himself Zachariah, claimed that the kuffar were trying to «wipe out (Muslims) from the face of the earth». He implored the group «to cover the land with our blood through martyrdom, martyrdom, martyrdom».

Mye av det som blir sitert er så tøvete at man undres på hvordan noen kan ta det alvorlig.

Saviour Sect rekrutterer tydeligvis fra de lavere lag av samfunnet. Mennene bak 21-7 så ut til å komme fra et slikt milijø. Men de som gjennomførte 7-7, var den andre kategorien, som oppleves som den farligste, utdannede og integrerte.

Myndighetene ønsker nå å gjøre noe med disse miljøene. Man skulle tro at det som er sitert er nok til å overbevise hvem som helst om at de utgjør en sikkerhetsrisiko. Men menneskerettsaktivister mener ikke det: Det er for generelt.

Geoffrey Bindman, a leading human rights solicitor, argued that Brooks’s apparent support for suicide bombings and his call for Muslims to «instil terror into the hearts» of non-believers might not be «specific» enough to warrant criminal proceedings.

«If he had said, ‘You must go out and blow yourself up on crowded Tube trains’, then you could say that he’s telling these people to go out and commit murder,» Bindman said. «An incitement in a general rhetorical statement would be difficult to prove as a crime.»

August 07, 2005

Focus: Undercover in the academy of hatred, Sunday Times