Muslim cleric 'promised boys virgins for
martyrdom'
By Reuters
Muslim Cleric Abdullah El-Faisal arriving at the Old Bailey in central London on Thursday.
(Photo: AP)
LONDON - A London-based Muslim cleric accused of urging his followers to murder non-believers, promised teenage Muslim boys 72 virgins in paradise if they died as religious martyrs, a court was told Thursday.
Sheikh Abdullah el-Faisal, 39, denies five charges of incitement to murder by encouraging others to kill "enemies of Islam". He could face life imprisonment if convicted.
Faisal, based in central London, is also charged with stirring up racial hatred through use of threatening and abusive words and with video and audio tapes in the four years before his arrest by anti-terrorist police last year.
Prosecutor David Perry told the jury at London's Old Bailey Court that Faisal urged followers to wage a Jihad, or Holy War, against non believers, specifically Americans, Hindus, Jews, Britons and other Europeans, by terrorising and killing them.
In one tape played to the court, Faisal could be heard telling women it was their duty to raise their sons to e part of the holy cause.
"Your male children must have the Jihad [holy war] mentality... At 15 your Muslim boys must become soldiers. Jihad training must be compulsory," he could be heard telling the female members of his audience.
He promised that the boys would be rewarded for their martyrdom in paradise with 72 virgins, adding: "Religious martyrs are not dead. Do not cry for them."
Later he said: "Once the word of Islam was spread by the sword. Today we are going to spread the word with Kalashnikovs [rifles]."
Perry told the court that in one tape, Faisal said: "It is wonderful to kill a non-believer, crawl on their backs and push them down into the Hellfire."
In others, he allegedly condoned the use of chemical and nuclear weapons to wipe out Islam's enemies, naming those enemies as all Americans, Jews, Hindus, Britons and citizens of other European countries.
Faisal allegedly made a series of tapes, with names such as "Jihad", "No Peace with Jews" and "Them Versus Us," which were distributed for sale from Islamic bookshops.
One of the tapes made some time in the year 2000 was said to
include a cover picture and the voice of Osama bin Laden, head of the Al-Qaida network, which Washington blames for the September 11 attacks on the United States.
Perry told the jury prosecutors were unable to say what effect Faisal's speeches had on his audiences as the identity of his followers was unknown.
Before the trial started, the judge banned any Hindus or Jews or anyone married to someone of those faiths from serving on the jury.
The court was told Faisal was born in Jamaica and had been a practising Christian until the age of 16 when he converted to Islam.
He obtained a degree in Islamic studies at a university in Saudi Arabia before moving to Britain in the early 1990s where he set himself up as a cleric in London. |
