Abu Izzadeen, the radical Muslim cleric who heckled former home secretary John Reid at a public meeting and called for volunteers to fight against British and US troops in Iraq, was yesterday jailed for four-and-a-half years for inciting and funding terrorism.
Izzadeen, a former electrician who converted to Islam at age 17, was one of six defendants convicted over terror offenses this week after a three-month trial.
As the men awaited their sentences, one of the accused, Shah Jalal Hussain, reappeared, 10 days after he absconded while the jury was deliberating at Kingston upon Thames Crown Court, west of London.
Hussain, who had failed to arrive at court on Tuesday, handed himself in yesterday morning. He was sentenced to two years for his part in the fundraising charge and three months — to be served consecutively — for breaking his bail conditions.
Another of the accused, Simon Keeler, a British-born Muslim convert, received a four-and-a-half-year sentence. The father of five had worked as a builder before his arrest. Both Keeler and Izzadeen were also given a two-and-a-half-year sentence for funding terrorism, to be served concurrently.
Judge Nicolas Price told the defendants that, while freedom of speech was a central tenet of democracy, they had “abused” those rights.
Referring to Izzadeen, he said: “I am left in no doubt that your speeches were used by you as self-aggrandizement and not as an expression of sincerely held religious views ... You are arrogant, contemptuous and utterly devoid of any sign of remorse.”
Of Keeler, the judge said: “You are someone with extremist and dangerous views. Not only the words themselves, but the tone in which they were issued, showed the depth of your fanatical zeal.”
Bethan David, the Crown Prosecution Service’s counterterrorism division reviewing lawyer, said: “It is not an offense to have negative views about Britain and its values and culture, but it is an offense to encourage acts of violence. This case was not about attacking free speech. It was about upholding the law.”
Izzadeen, who was born in Britain and named Trevor Brooks by his Christian parents, was one of the “leading lights” in the terrorism enterprise, along with Keeler, the judge said.
On Nov. 9, 2004, Izzadeen and his co-defendants made a series of extremist speeches at the Regent’s Park mosque in London, calling for volunteers to fight against British and US troops in Iraq and to donate money to fund terrorism.
The men had gone to the mosque to observe Ramadan, the court was told, but their speeches had become more inflammatory as the day wore on.
In one speech, Izzadeen said soldiers of the Black Watch would be raping women and killing children as they helped the US.
NO EXCUSES: Marcos said his administration was acting on voters’ demands, but an academic said the move was emotionally motivated after a poor midterm showing Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr yesterday sought the resignation of all his Cabinet secretaries, in a move seen as an attempt to reset the political agenda and assert his authority over the second half of his single six-year term. The order came after the president’s allies failed to win a majority of Senate seats contested in the 12 polls on Monday last week, leaving Marcos facing a divided political and legislative landscape that could thwart his attempts to have an ally succeed him in 2028. “He’s talking to the people, trying to salvage whatever political capital he has left. I think it’s
Polish presidential candidates offered different visions of Poland and its relations with Ukraine in a televised debate ahead of next week’s run-off, which remains on a knife-edge. During a head-to-head debate lasting two hours, centrist Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski, from Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s governing pro-European coalition, faced the Eurosceptic historian Karol Nawrocki, backed by the right-wing populist Law and Justice party (PiS). The two candidates, who qualified for the second round after coming in the top two places in the first vote on Sunday last week, clashed over Poland’s relations with Ukraine, EU policy and the track records of their
UNSCHEDULED VISIT: ‘It’s a very bulky new neighbor, but it will soon go away,’ said Johan Helberg of the 135m container ship that run aground near his house A man in Norway awoke early on Thursday to discover a huge container ship had run aground a stone’s throw from his fjord-side house — and he had slept through the commotion. For an as-yet unknown reason, the 135m NCL Salten sailed up onto shore just meters from Johan Helberg’s house in a fjord near Trondheim in central Norway. Helberg only discovered the unexpected visitor when a panicked neighbor who had rung his doorbell repeatedly to no avail gave up and called him on the phone. “The doorbell rang at a time of day when I don’t like to open,” Helberg told television
‘A THREAT’: Guyanese President Irfan Ali called on Venezuela to follow international court rulings over the region, whose border Guyana says was ratified back in 1899 Misael Zapara said he would vote in Venezuela’s first elections yesterday for the territory of Essequibo, despite living more than 100km away from the oil-rich Guyana-administered region. Both countries lay claim to Essequibo, which makes up two-thirds of Guyana’s territory and is home to 125,000 of its 800,000 citizens. Guyana has administered the region for decades. The centuries-old dispute has intensified since ExxonMobil discovered massive offshore oil deposits a decade ago, giving Guyana the largest crude oil reserves per capita in the world. Venezuela would elect a governor, eight National Assembly deputies and regional councilors in a newly created constituency for the 160,000
RSS