One by one the most fanatic inciters of terrorist acts are being brought to justice. Good on the UK for this one. 
There is no place in any religion for this kind of cr*p being taught nor can any constitution guaranteeing the right to free speech be interpreted as protecting this babble.
LONDON (Reuters) - A London-based Muslim cleric accused of supporting Osama bin Laden was found guilty Monday of urging his followers to kill "enemies of Islam" in a holy war against non-believers.
Jamaican-born Sheikh Abdullah el-Faisal, 39, was convicted of three rare charges of incitement to murder. He was also found guilty of three counts of stirring up racial hatred through the use of threatening and abusive words in person and through video or audio recordings.
Faisal, who was arrested by British anti-terrorist police last year, will be sentenced next week. The charges are punishable by life imprisonment.
During the trial, the court was told Faisal urged his followers to use chemical and nuclear weapons in an Islamic holy war.
"He encouraged his audiences to wage war against non-believers, in particular Hindus, Jews and any citizen of the United States of America," said prosecutor David Perry. Faisal made a series of tapes -- with names such as "Jihad" and "No Peace with Jews" -- which were distributed throughout Britain for sale from Islamic book shops.
One of the tapes included a cover picture and the voice of bin Laden, head of the al Qaeda network, which Washington blames for the September 11 attacks on the United States.
The jury also listened to tapes of lectures given by Faisal around the country to groups of up to 150 people.
In one tape, he could be heard promising teenage Muslim boys they would be rewarded in paradise with 72 virgins if they died as religious martyrs.
KORAN TEACHINGS
In his defense, Faisal said he only preached what he had learned from the Koran. He also said that while he once regarded bin Laden as a hero for the Muslim people, he believed bin Laden had "lost the path" since September 11.
After the verdict, it emerged judge Peter Beaumont had almost halted the trial halfway through after an apparent attempt to bribe him.
The judge said he was shown a letter, posted from Scotland, that offered him 50,000 pounds ($80,000). The matter has been referred to police but there was no indication Faisal was connected.
Faisal, a former devout Christian, converted to Islam as a teen-ager and went on to study the Muslim faith in Saudi Arabia. He moved to Britain in the 1990s and later became Imam of the Brixton Mosque in south London. Authorities say shoebomber Richard Reid, jailed in the U.S. for attempting to down a trans-Atlantic flight, and accused September 11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui, now in U.S. custody, met at the mosque. Faisal denied knowing them.
Faisal, who was cleared of three other charges, was convicted under the Offences Against the Persons Act, a 140-year-old law rarely invoked in modern times. ($1=.6332 Pound)
There is no place in any religion for this kind of cr*p being taught nor can any constitution guaranteeing the right to free speech be interpreted as protecting this babble. LONDON (Reuters) - A London-based Muslim cleric accused of supporting Osama bin Laden was found guilty Monday of urging his followers to kill "enemies of Islam" in a holy war against non-believers.
Jamaican-born Sheikh Abdullah el-Faisal, 39, was convicted of three rare charges of incitement to murder. He was also found guilty of three counts of stirring up racial hatred through the use of threatening and abusive words in person and through video or audio recordings.
Faisal, who was arrested by British anti-terrorist police last year, will be sentenced next week. The charges are punishable by life imprisonment.
During the trial, the court was told Faisal urged his followers to use chemical and nuclear weapons in an Islamic holy war.
"He encouraged his audiences to wage war against non-believers, in particular Hindus, Jews and any citizen of the United States of America," said prosecutor David Perry. Faisal made a series of tapes -- with names such as "Jihad" and "No Peace with Jews" -- which were distributed throughout Britain for sale from Islamic book shops.
One of the tapes included a cover picture and the voice of bin Laden, head of the al Qaeda network, which Washington blames for the September 11 attacks on the United States.
The jury also listened to tapes of lectures given by Faisal around the country to groups of up to 150 people.
In one tape, he could be heard promising teenage Muslim boys they would be rewarded in paradise with 72 virgins if they died as religious martyrs.
KORAN TEACHINGS
In his defense, Faisal said he only preached what he had learned from the Koran. He also said that while he once regarded bin Laden as a hero for the Muslim people, he believed bin Laden had "lost the path" since September 11.
After the verdict, it emerged judge Peter Beaumont had almost halted the trial halfway through after an apparent attempt to bribe him.
The judge said he was shown a letter, posted from Scotland, that offered him 50,000 pounds ($80,000). The matter has been referred to police but there was no indication Faisal was connected.
Faisal, a former devout Christian, converted to Islam as a teen-ager and went on to study the Muslim faith in Saudi Arabia. He moved to Britain in the 1990s and later became Imam of the Brixton Mosque in south London. Authorities say shoebomber Richard Reid, jailed in the U.S. for attempting to down a trans-Atlantic flight, and accused September 11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui, now in U.S. custody, met at the mosque. Faisal denied knowing them.
Faisal, who was cleared of three other charges, was convicted under the Offences Against the Persons Act, a 140-year-old law rarely invoked in modern times. ($1=.6332 Pound)
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