Abu Izzadeen, former member of Al-Muhajiroun, has consistentlyescaped prosecution. In August 2005, the Attorney General and the Head of the Crown Prosecutions investigated the possibility of taking Izzadeen to court, but decided to do nothing. In yesterday's Part II, I provided a transcript of a speech which Izzadeen had made in Small Heath, Birmingham, on July 2, 2006. This speech appeared to glorify terrorism.

 

 In April 2006, a new law entered Britain's statute books, the Terrorism Act 2006. Under Schedule 1, section 1 (3a) of this law, it is illegal if someone: "glorifies the commission or preparation (whether in the past, in the future or generally) of such acts or offences; and (b) is a statement from which those members of the public could reasonably be expected to infer that what is being glorified is being glorified as conduct that should be emulated by them in existing circumstances." The maximum sentence for this offense is 7 years' imprisonment, if conviction follows an indictment.

 

 On September 20, 2006, Izzadeen interrupted a speech given by the UK Home Secretary, John Reid, at Leytonstone, northeast London. Izzadeen yelled out: "I am furious. I am absolutely furious - John Reid should not come to a Muslim area. You are an enemy of Islam and Muslims. Shame on all of us for sitting down and listening to him." He spoke of "state terrorism" by UK police. "They are going to come in the morning to your house ... they are going to kick your door down when you're in bed with your wife, then drag you from your own bed." Izzadeen said: "John Reid, Tony Blair and George Bush's crusade can all go to Hell."

 

 Five days after this outburst, the Sunday Telegraph revealed that the Crown Prosecution Service had said an "ongoing investigation" of Izzadeen was underway. This investigation was examining the possibilities of mounting charges of incitement and solicitation to murder. A spokesperson for the Metropolitan Police said that "it may be that we still require further evidence for the most serious charges being considered."

 

 Finally, on Friday, February 9 last week, Izzadeen was brought before a judge. He had been arrested the day before. The arrest was connected with his Small Heath speech from July 2, 2006. He was charged under Section 1 of the 2006 Terrorism Act with glorifying terrorism. Izzadeen was told by Judge Daphne Wickham to surrender his passport and not to attend any organized meetings before she granted him conditional bail.

 

 Izzadeen was a spokesperson for the group Al Ghurabaa and also was a senior figure in the Saviour/Saved Sect, spin-off groups formed after the dissolution of Al-Muhajiroun. In July, shortly after the notorious Small Heath speech, these groups were officially banned by John Reid. The Home Secretary had failed to outlaw another group comprising exactly the same membership, Ahlus Sunna Wal Jamaah. This had been inaugurated in November 2005, with Izzadeen in attendance.

 

 After Izzadeen heckled John Reid in Leytonstone, he was invited to appear on BBC's Radio 4, on its prestigious morning show Today. Izzadeen said: "We are not talking about elections. I'm a Muslim; I work with the community, I live in the community, John Reid doesn't. And I'm telling you we have had enough. We've had enough of the police raids, enough of the shooting in Forest Gates, enough of the arrests inside Walthamstow, inside restaurants, under the guise of your war against terror which everybody knows, Muslims and non-Muslims, is a war against Islam."

 

 "And I'm telling you something - if they don't stop this there's going to be a very strong reaction from the community, maybe not from me on an individual level, but people have had enough."

 

 When asked by the interviewer to explain this, Izzadeen said: "Well I think the British Government, they should really open their eyes and smell the coffee. You can only push people to a certain level until they explode. We are not talking about a self-suicide operation, but there is a tension within the community because they are being targeted. If you're going to talk terrorism you have to look at Tony Blair because at the moment, the biggest terrorist is George Bush and his side-kick."

 

 Aware of the ramifications of the Terrorism Act 2006, Izzadeen refused to state that Muslim terrorism was "justified", but returned to his favorite themes: "As a Muslim I believe Allah created whole universe; he created the UK. It doesn't belong to you, it doesn't belong to the Queen, it doesn't belong to the Anglo-Saxons. Allah has put us on the planet earth to live wherever we want and implement the Sharia rules... Democracy means sovereignty for man; and as a Muslim, we believe sovereignty for the Sharia, therefore I would never take part in democratic principles. Rather I will work to change society in accordance with Islamic methodology."

 

 Though a trained electrician, Izzadeen does not work, and has not worked for years. A doctrine of his "spiritual leader" Omar Bakri Mohammed maintains that British Muslims should live off welfare benefits provided by the democratic system they aim to destroy. Izzadeen receives an estimated ??700 ($1,363) in state benefits each month to pay for himself, his Arabic wife and their three children.

 

 Despite having a family and one wife, Izzadeen tried to gain three extra "wives" last September. The way Izzadeen described himself on an Islamic matrimonial site gives an insight into the Islamist's monstrous ego and narcissism. He called himself "the life of the party" and claimed to watch "a lot" of Al Jazeera TV. The wives he was seeking had to be aged over 16 and under 40. He described himself as "passionate, bold, protective, witty and sensitive". He claimed to be "very funny, loving and humble towards the believers," and said he went to the gym regularly and loved kung fu. He claimed his most "attractive feature" was his "long beard". He admitted it did not grow beyond a certain length, but added that he was "muscular", 5 foot 11 inches tall, and that he had hazel eyes.

 

 Any additional wives would not be legitimate, and would not be maintained by Izzadeen financially. That would be the duty of the democratic society which he hates so much. Izzadeen claimed on the website MuslimIntro.com that he wished to father nine additional children by new wives.

 

 Izzadeen is an attention-seeker. His appearances on video and TV have drawn hostile reactions from the UK public who have witnessed his rants, and now he is facing charges of "glorifying terrorism". He maintains that he is an Islamic scholar, but in practice, he is little more than a thug. The Muslim group to which he still belongs, Ahlus Sunna Wal Jamaah, was involved in an illegal protest against the Danish cartoons on February 3, 2006.

 

 Outside the Danish Embassy in London, members of this group carried placards which read: "Behead those who insult Islam", "Europe. Take some lessons from 9/11", "Europe you will pay. Demolition is on its way", "Europe you will pay. Your extermination is on its way," "Slay those who insult Islam," "Butcher those who insult Islam." Ahlus Sunna Wal Jamaah members also heckled Catholic worshippers at Westminster Cathedral in September last year.

 

 In November, Izzadeen was involved in heckling police outside the Old Bailey. A trial had started of one of Ahlus Sunna Wal Jamaah's members, Mizanur Rahman, who had called for deaths of Americans during the February demonstration. Outside the court, a cameraman was physically assaulted, a policeman was punched in the face, and another had his helmet ripped off.

 

 As an official spokesman for the now banned group Al Ghurabaa, Izzadeen was responsible for an article which appeared on its website in February last year, which encouraged the murder of people who "insulted Islam". This article, entitled "Kill those who insult the Prophet Muhammad" can be found here. It explains how Mohammed, founder of Islam, approved the murder of those who insulted or ridiculed him.

 

 The article states: "At the time of the Messenger Muhammad (saw) there were individuals like these who dishonored and insulted him upon whom the Islamic judgement was executed. Such people were not tolerated in the past and throughout the history of Islam were dealt with according to the Shariah. Ka'ab ibn Ashraf was assassinated by Muhammad ibn Maslamah for harming the Messenger Muhammad (saw) by his words, Abu Raafi' was killed by Abu Ateeq as the Messenger ordered in the most evil of ways for swearing at the prophet, Khalid bin Sufyaan was killed by Abdullah bin Anees who cut off his head and brought it to the prophet for harming the Messenger Muhammad (saw) by his insults, Al-Asmaa bintu Marwaan was killed by Umayr bin Adi' al-Khatmi, a blind man, for writing poetry against the prophet and insulting him in it, Al-Aswad al-Ansi was killed by Fairuz al-Daylami and his family for insulting the Messenger Muhammad (saw) and claiming to be a prophet himself."

 

 "Shortly after these incidents the people began to realize that insulting the Messenger of Allah (saw) was not something to be taken lightly and that by doing so would mean that you would be killed for it, a concept that many have seem to forgotten."

 

 "The insulting of the Messenger Muhammad (saw) is something that the Muslims cannot and will not tolerate and the punishment in Islam for the one who does so is death. This is the sunnah of the prophet and the verdict of Islam upon such people, one that any Muslim is able to execute. The response of the Muslims all over the world shows us the inability to deal with such people, the kuffar are attacking our Messenger and are allowed to get away with it whilst the Muslims have no power to do anything about it. The leaders of the Muslim world have no care for the deen of Islam as they are busy cementing their seats content with their power and wealth. Where are the Muhammad ibn Maslamah's of our ummah who will ?"

 

 In 2004 at the Saudi-funded Regents Park Mosque, Izzadeen had said that any Muslim who joined the British or American army should "have his head removed." A video of the speech was broadcast last week, after being circulated on an Islamist website for about a year. On Tuesday last week, he claimed to stand by his statement. He told ITV News: "You are asking me today, what is the ruling for anyone joining the British army as a Muslim, they're an apostate. You ask me what's the rules for apostasy. In Islam, apostasy carries capital punishment."  That a link connects these inflammatory statements and the arrest on February 1, 2007 of nine men in Birmingham (six people were charged) following an alleged plot to kidnap, torture and behead a Muslim soldier, seems highly likely.

 

 Izzadeen may be seen by some as an extreme, almost caricature figure, but his ideas are those held by a sizable minority of British Muslims. He will eventually face trial, and if convicted he could be sentenced to seven years' jail. But the ideas Izzadeen promotes are not going to go away. Izzadeen may have gained "celebrity status", but in Islamic bookshops and in university Islamic societies across Britain, the same beliefs are still being promoted.