UK: Islamic preacher "recruited terrorists for Iraq" and said Islam was a "religion of terrorism"

"Religion of terrorism"? Oh Trevor, you Islamophobe

Let it be remembered exactly how Trevor Brooks, aka Omar Brooks, aka Abu Izzadeen actually "heckled" the Home Secretary. He said, "John Reid should not come to a Muslim area, we do not want to see him." One wonders if he would even accept the proposition that John Reid and the government he represented had any authority over that "Muslim area.". "Islamic preacher 'recruited terrorists for Iraq,'" by Duncan Gardham in the Telegraph (thanks to PRCS):

A radical preacher who heckled the Home Secretary tried to recruit Muslims to fight British soldiers in Iraq and raise money for terrorists, a court has been told.

Trevor Brooks, who uses the names Omar Brooks and Abu Izzadeen, and six co-defendants, claim their arrest in 2007 was "politically motivated" because Brooks once interrupted a speech made by John Reid when he was home secretary, the court heard.

In a video played to the jury, one of the accused, Abdul Rehman Saleem, praised Osama bin Laden and said Islam was a "religion of terrorism".

He said: "Terrorism against the kuffar [non-believers], terrorism against those that terrorise us, terrorism against those that terrorise our women and children. Yes we have terrorised them so when they call you terrorist, be proud to have that title."

I trust Salam Al-Marayati of MPAC and Ibrahim Hooper of CAIR are on their way to Britain now to explain to Brooks how he is misunderstanding Islam.

As the audience at Regents Park Mosque in central London, joined in, he chanted: "Oh Allah support Sheikh Osama, Oh Allah destroy America.

"Destroy the kafir wherever they are. Let their blood run in the mountains of Afghanistan, let their women become widows, may their children become orphans, let them be bombed. Let death come to them by the hands of the mujahideen [holy fighters]."

"Destroy the kafir wherever they are" is, of course, a quote of the Qur'an's notorious Verse of the Sword, sura 9:5, usually rendered in English as "slay the unbelievers wherever you find them."

Kingston Crown Court, in south-west London, was told that the speakers referred to the September 11 hijackers as the "magnificent 19" and the audience clapped those who had "chosen to answer the call by becoming martyrs".

When police arrived, after being called by mosque security staff, they were forced from the building by the angry crowd....