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Cleric urged followers to kill
LONDON, England (Reuters) -- A London-based Muslim cleric accused of supporting Osama bin Laden has been found guilty 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 on three charges of incitement to murder, which are rarely filed in Britain. 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 up to 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, 2001 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. In his defence, 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 the attacks on the United States that killed more than 3,000 people. 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, mailed from Scotland, that offered him £50,000 ($80,000). The matter has been referred to police but there was no indication Faisal was connected. Faisal, once a devout Christian, converted to Islam as a teenager 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 shoe bomber Richard Reid, jailed in the United States for attempting to down a transatlantic 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. Copyright 2003 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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