Abdullah el-Faisal
Encyclopedia
Abdullah el-Faisal is a muslim cleric who preached in the United Kingdom
until he was convicted of stirring up racial hatred and urging his followers to murder Jews, Hindu
s, Christian
s, and Americans
.
El-Faisal was sentenced to nine years in prison, of which he served four years before being deported to Jamaica in 2007. He subsequently traveled to Africa, but was deported from Botswana in 2009 and from Kenya back to Jamaica in January 2010.
Christian
family which belonged to the Salvation Army
church, a denomination of the universal Radical Christian Church. He grew up in the small farming village of Point, about 14 miles from the city of Montego Bay
, in upper St. James, Jamaica. He attended Springfield All-Age, then Maldon Primary and Junior High. At age 16, he converted to Islam
, after being introduced to the religion by a teacher at Maldon High School.
Shortly after graduating Maldon in 1980 he assumed the name Abdullah el-Faisal, and he changed his name legally in 1983. In 1981 he went to Trinidad on a Saudi Arabian government-sponsored six-week crash course in Islamic and Arabic studies, where he was taught the skills of being an imam. He left Jamaica in 1983 for Guyana
where he studied Arabic and Islam for a year. He then moved to Saudi Arabia
where he studied at Imam Muhammad Ibn Saud Muhammad university of Riyadh and then moved to the UK later in the 1980s.
He went to Saudi Arabia on a Saudi government scholarship in November 1984. El-Faisal studied Islam for seven years at the Al-Imam Muhammad Ibn Saud Islamic University in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
to preach by Sheikh Raji. He returned to the UK in 1991, became the imam at the Brixton Mosque
in South London
, began preaching to crowds of up to 500 people at the mosque and at Brixton Town Hall. He married his second wife, Pakistani-British biology graduate Zubeida Khan whom he met months after his arrival, in 1992, thereby acquiring rights of residence. He remained married, however, to his first wife, and as of 2010 both marriages were still intact. In 1993, el-Faisal was ejected by Brixton Mosque's Salafi administration who objected to his radical preaching,
Afterward, he gave a lecture he called The Devil's Deception of the Saudi Salafis, scorning the Salafi Muslims, calling them "major hypocrites". In a taped lecture in the late 1990s entitled The Devil's Deception of the 21st Century House Niggers he declared the African-American Salafi preacher Abu Usamah
kaafir (an apostate). He also moved to Tower Hamlets, East London
, where he began a study center.
Referred to as "Sheikh
" by his followers, el-Faisal travelled and lectured to audiences of predominantly young Muslim males in mosques in Birmingham
, London, and Dewsbury
in West Yorkshire
, and in Manchester
, Worthing
, Bournemouth
, Cardiff
, Swansea
, Coventry
, Maidenhead
, Tipton
, Beeston
, and venues in Scotland
and Wales
. Some of his lectures were taped and sold at Islamic bookshops. He also called on Muslim mothers to raise their children to be jihad soldiers by the age of 15. It is the content of those taped lectures that served as the basis for his later trial and conviction.
In February 2002, El-Faisal's tapes were purchased by an undercover police officer at an Islamic bookshop at 62 Brick Lane
in London and seized under a search warrant at Zam Zam Bookshop at 388 Green Street
in East Ham
and at his home at 104 Albert Square in Stratford
. He was arrested on 18 February 2002.
El-Faisal is an associate of Abu Hamza al-Masri
, the Egyptian ousted from the Finsbury Park mosque
who is known for preaching against non-Muslims, and who is currently incarcerated in the United Kingdom for various offenses. El-Faisal is reportedly a former supporter of Osama bin Laden
, and has been linked to al-Qaeda
members.
After a four-week trial at the Old Bailey
, el-Faisal was found guilty by a jury of six men and six women on 24 February 2003 of: (a) three charges of soliciting the murder
of Jews, Americans, Hindus, and Christians; and (b) two charges of using threatening words to stir up racial hatred, in tapes of speeches to his followers.
The prior December, a poll had indicated that 8 per cent of the British Muslims it sampled would support terrorist acts against England. He was also the first Muslim cleric to be tried in the UK.
Taped lectures
In tapes of lectures he had given, he exhorted Muslim women to buy toy guns for their children, to train them for jihad. El-Faisal tried to recruit British schoolboys for terrorist training camps, promising them "seventy-two virgins in paradise" if they died fighting a holy war
. El-Faisal said "Those who want to go to Jannah
[paradise], it's easy, just kill a Kaffar [unbeliever] ... by killing that Kaffar you have purchased your ticket to paradise." He told audiences to kill Hindus, Jews, and other non-Muslims like "cockroaches".
On one tape, titled "Jihad
", he said: "Our methodology is the bullet, not the ballot." In a tape called "Rules of Jihad", thought to have been made before the 9/11 attacks, he said: "You have to learn how to shoot. You have to learn how to fly planes, drive tanks, and you have to learn how to load your guns and to use missiles. You are only allowed to use nuclear weapons in that country which is 100% unbelievers." He encouraged the use of "anything, even chemical weapons", to "exterminate non-believers". A picture of the burning World Trade Center
was on the cover of one recording.
He lectured: "So you go to India, and if you see a Hindu walking down the road you are allowed to kill him and take his money, is that clear?" He also suggested that nuclear power stations could be fueled with the bodies of Hindus, slaughtered for their "oppression" of Muslims in Kashmir
. "Jews," el-Faisal said, "should be killed ... as by Hitler." He said: "People with British passports, if you fly into Israel, it is easy. Fly into Israel and do whatever you can. If you die, you are up in paradise. How do you fight a Jew? You kill a Jew. In the case of Hindus, by bombing their businesses."
During the trial, he denied he had intended to incite people to violence. He also testified that he had held Osama bin Laden
in "great respect," but that bin Laden had "lost the path" since September 11.
Sentencing and appeal
El-Faisal was sentenced on 7 March 2003 to nine years in prison. He received seven years for soliciting murder, 12 months to run concurrently for using threatening words with intent to stir up racial hatred, and a further two years (to run consecutively) for distributing threatening recordings with intent to stir up racial hatred. Old Bailey judge Peter Beaumont delivered the sentence. He said el-Faisal had "fanned the flames of hostility", and told him: "As the jury found, you not only preached hate, but the words you uttered in those meetings were recorded to reach a wider audience. You urged those who listened and watched to kill those who did not share your faith." The judge suggested that el-Faisal serve at least half his sentence, and then be deported.
On 17 February 2004 el-Faisal lost an appeal of his conviction. While in prison, he sought to become a representative of Muslim prisoners, leading demonstrations and hunger strikes, and saying: "if you're a cleric, you have to set an example for other Muslim prisoners to follow, and you're not supposed to crack under pressure". He ended up serving four years.
and 9/11 plotter Zacarias Moussaoui
.
In addition, two of the four accused 2005 7/7 suicide bombers, Muhammad Sidique Khan, responsible for the Edgware Road blast that killed 6 people, and Jamaican-born Briton Germaine Lindsay
, responsible for the blast that killed 26 people at King's Cross
tube station, were followers of El-Faisal. In an interview with the BBC
in June 2008, he admitted knowing Germaine Lindsay but insisted he had not radicalized him.
In a May 2005 online posting under the name “farouk1986,” Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab
, the suspected Christmas Day 2009 Flight 253
bomber, referred to El-Faisal, writing: "i thought once they are arrested, no one hears about them for life and the keys to their prison wards are thrown away. That’s what I heard sheikh faisal of UK say (he has also been arrested i heard)."
to Jamaica, and permanently banned from the UK on 25 May 2007. He remained on an international watch list. Andrew Dismore
, a Labour
Member of Parliament
, noted that deportation might not adequately address the risks posed by el-Faisal, saying: "Once he's deported to Jamaica, what restrictions will there be to prevent him spreading his message of hate over the Internet?" He is said to preach extremists views online at paltalk chat rooms and associated with the authentic tawheed website.
On his arrival in Jamaica, the Islamic Council of Jamaica banned him from preaching in its mosques. He began to again give lectures, conduct Q&A sessions via online chats, and established himself at the pulpit of a mosque in Spanish Town
, just west of Kingston, Jamaica
. The content of his sermons remained the same as that which was submitted at his trial.
In June 2008 he was preaching in South Africa
. He reportedly traveled by road through various countries in Africa including Nigeria
, Angola
, Malawi
, Swaziland
, Mozambique
, Botswana
, and Tanzania
before entering Kenya
.
Along the way, Botswana had deported him on suspicion that he was recruiting and training young Batswana to become suicide bombers, and that he was linked to a since-destroyed training camp outside Lobatse.
Kenya
El-Faisal was allowed entry to Kenya
on 24 December 2009, due to a computer error. El-Faisal was arrested in Kenya on New Year's Eve
2009 by anti-terror police as he was leaving a mosque in the town of Mombasa
. Authorities said they arrested him because he breached the terms of his tourist visa, which did not allow him to preach. He was initially stuck in Kenya despite attempts to deport him, because of his history of involvement in terrorist activities, because other countries refused to allow him to transit through them. While Jamaica had said it would accept him, and keep a close eye on him, South Africa, the U.K., the U.S., and Tanzania all declined to issue him transit visas that would allow him to connect to flights to Jamaica.
He was deported from Kenya on 7 January 2010, which sought to send him to the West African nation of Gambia, which agreed to accept el-Faisal at his request. But as he was being transported through Nigeria, Nigerian authorities refused to grant him a transit visa and instead sent him back to Kenya on 10 January 2010. The Gambian government also indicated it would not grant him entry because of the "bad publicity" surrounding his deportation.
A few hundred Muslim Kenyan protesters attended a street demonstration 8 January 2010, protesting the "unfair" treatment of el-Faisal, chanting "Allahu Akbar". On 15 January Kenyan security forces shot in the air and fired tear gas at hundreds of people in Nairobi, some holding the flag of Somali Islamist freedom fighters group al Shabaab, protested his detention, and some Kenyans, angry at the protesters, hurled stones at the marchers. The following day at least five people died in demonstrations after Friday prayers at Jamia Mosque.
Jamaica
He was deported from Kenya on a private plane (at a cost in excess of $523,000), and on 22 January 2010 arrived back in Jamaica. There, he was questioned by Special Branch
investigators who made it clear that he had not broken any laws in Jamaica, but that the police wanted to make sure they knew where and how to find him "because of the international attention he has received". The Islamic Council of Jamaica banned him from preaching at any of its 12 mosques, but said it will not prevent him from worshiping at them.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
until he was convicted of stirring up racial hatred and urging his followers to murder Jews, Hindu
Hindu
Hindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...
s, Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
s, and Americans
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
El-Faisal was sentenced to nine years in prison, of which he served four years before being deported to Jamaica in 2007. He subsequently traveled to Africa, but was deported from Botswana in 2009 and from Kenya back to Jamaica in January 2010.
Early life
El-Faisal was born to an evangelicalEvangelicalism
Evangelicalism is a Protestant Christian movement which began in Great Britain in the 1730s and gained popularity in the United States during the series of Great Awakenings of the 18th and 19th century.Its key commitments are:...
Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
family which belonged to the Salvation Army
Salvation Army
The Salvation Army is a Protestant Christian church known for its thrift stores and charity work. It is an international movement that currently works in over a hundred countries....
church, a denomination of the universal Radical Christian Church. He grew up in the small farming village of Point, about 14 miles from the city of Montego Bay
Montego Bay
Montego Bay is the capital of St. James Parish and the second largest city in Jamaica by area and the fourth by population .It is a tourist destination with duty free shopping, cruise line terminal and the beaches...
, in upper St. James, Jamaica. He attended Springfield All-Age, then Maldon Primary and Junior High. At age 16, he converted to Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
, after being introduced to the religion by a teacher at Maldon High School.
Shortly after graduating Maldon in 1980 he assumed the name Abdullah el-Faisal, and he changed his name legally in 1983. In 1981 he went to Trinidad on a Saudi Arabian government-sponsored six-week crash course in Islamic and Arabic studies, where he was taught the skills of being an imam. He left Jamaica in 1983 for Guyana
Guyana
Guyana , officially the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, previously the colony of British Guiana, is a sovereign state on the northern coast of South America that is culturally part of the Anglophone Caribbean. Guyana was a former colony of the Dutch and of the British...
where he studied Arabic and Islam for a year. He then moved to Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia , commonly known in British English as Saudi Arabia and in Arabic as as-Sa‘ūdiyyah , is the largest state in Western Asia by land area, constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and the second-largest in the Arab World...
where he studied at Imam Muhammad Ibn Saud Muhammad university of Riyadh and then moved to the UK later in the 1980s.
He went to Saudi Arabia on a Saudi government scholarship in November 1984. El-Faisal studied Islam for seven years at the Al-Imam Muhammad Ibn Saud Islamic University in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
England: 1991–2003
El-Faisal was sent to the United KingdomUnited Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
to preach by Sheikh Raji. He returned to the UK in 1991, became the imam at the Brixton Mosque
Brixton Mosque
The Brixton Mosque and Islamic Cultural Centre is a mosque located in Gresham Road in the Brixton area of South London, England. The mosque has facilities for both men and women and space for 500 worshippers during prayer and is currently expanding to accommodate over 1000 worshippers...
in South London
South London
South London is the southern part of London, England, United Kingdom.According to the 2011 official Boundary Commission for England definition, South London includes the London boroughs of Bexley, Bromley, Croydon, Greenwich, Kingston, Lambeth, Lewisham, Merton, Southwark, Sutton and...
, began preaching to crowds of up to 500 people at the mosque and at Brixton Town Hall. He married his second wife, Pakistani-British biology graduate Zubeida Khan whom he met months after his arrival, in 1992, thereby acquiring rights of residence. He remained married, however, to his first wife, and as of 2010 both marriages were still intact. In 1993, el-Faisal was ejected by Brixton Mosque's Salafi administration who objected to his radical preaching,
Afterward, he gave a lecture he called The Devil's Deception of the Saudi Salafis, scorning the Salafi Muslims, calling them "major hypocrites". In a taped lecture in the late 1990s entitled The Devil's Deception of the 21st Century House Niggers he declared the African-American Salafi preacher Abu Usamah
Abu Usamah
Abu Usamah at-Thahabi is an Imam at Green Lane Masjid in Birmingham, England.-History:Abu Usamah, Khalifah At-Thahabi was born and raised in Passaic, New Jersey, the third eldest of four children....
kaafir (an apostate). He also moved to Tower Hamlets, East London
North East (London sub region)
The North East is a sub-region of the London Plan corresponding to the London Boroughs of Tower Hamlets, Newham, Waltham Forest, Redbridge, Havering, Barking and Dagenham, and the City of London. The sub region was established in 2008 and replaced the larger East sub region that had been...
, where he began a study center.
Referred to as "Sheikh
Sheikh
Not to be confused with sikhSheikh — also spelled Sheik or Shaikh, or transliterated as Shaykh — is an honorific in the Arabic language that literally means "elder" and carries the meaning "leader and/or governor"...
" by his followers, el-Faisal travelled and lectured to audiences of predominantly young Muslim males in mosques in Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
, London, and Dewsbury
Dewsbury
Dewsbury is a minster town in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees, in West Yorkshire, England. It is to the west of Wakefield, east of Huddersfield and south of Leeds...
in West Yorkshire
West Yorkshire
West Yorkshire is a metropolitan county within the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England with a population of 2.2 million. West Yorkshire came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972....
, and in Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
, Worthing
Worthing
Worthing is a large seaside town with borough status in West Sussex, within the historic County of Sussex, forming part of the Brighton/Worthing/Littlehampton conurbation. It is situated at the foot of the South Downs, west of Brighton, and east of the county town of Chichester...
, Bournemouth
Bournemouth
Bournemouth is a large coastal resort town in the ceremonial county of Dorset, England. According to the 2001 Census the town has a population of 163,444, making it the largest settlement in Dorset. It is also the largest settlement between Southampton and Plymouth...
, Cardiff
Cardiff
Cardiff is the capital, largest city and most populous county of Wales and the 10th largest city in the United Kingdom. The city is Wales' chief commercial centre, the base for most national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media, and the seat of the National Assembly for...
, Swansea
Swansea
Swansea is a coastal city and county in Wales. Swansea is in the historic county boundaries of Glamorgan. Situated on the sandy South West Wales coast, the county area includes the Gower Peninsula and the Lliw uplands...
, Coventry
Coventry
Coventry is a city and metropolitan borough in the county of West Midlands in England. Coventry is the 9th largest city in England and the 11th largest in the United Kingdom. It is also the second largest city in the English Midlands, after Birmingham, with a population of 300,848, although...
, Maidenhead
Maidenhead
Maidenhead is a town and unparished area within the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead, in Berkshire, England. It lies on the River Thames and is situated west of Charing Cross in London.-History:...
, Tipton
Tipton
Tipton is a town in the Sandwell borough of the West Midlands, England, with a population of around 47,000. Tipton is located about halfway between Birmingham and Wolverhampton. It is a part of the West Midlands conurbation and is a part of the Black Country....
, Beeston
Beeston, Leeds
Beeston is a suburb Leeds, West Yorkshire, England located about 2 miles south of the city centre. The area is separated from surrounding areas to the north, east and west by the M621 motorway....
, and venues in Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
and Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
. Some of his lectures were taped and sold at Islamic bookshops. He also called on Muslim mothers to raise their children to be jihad soldiers by the age of 15. It is the content of those taped lectures that served as the basis for his later trial and conviction.
In February 2002, El-Faisal's tapes were purchased by an undercover police officer at an Islamic bookshop at 62 Brick Lane
Brick Lane
Brick Lane is a street in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, in the East End of London. It runs from Swanfield Street in the northern part of Bethnal Green, crosses Bethnal Green Road, passes through Spitalfields and is linked to Whitechapel High Street to the south by the short stretch of...
in London and seized under a search warrant at Zam Zam Bookshop at 388 Green Street
Green Street, London
Green Street is a road in the London Borough of Newham, England. There is an official website for this road.The southern portion is the location of the Boleyn Ground, home to West Ham United...
in East Ham
East Ham
East Ham is a suburban district of London, England, and part of the London Borough of Newham. It is a built-up district located 8 miles east-northeast of Charing Cross...
and at his home at 104 Albert Square in Stratford
Stratford, London
Stratford is a place in the London Borough of Newham, England. It is located east northeast of Charing Cross and is one of the major centres identified in the London Plan. It was historically an agrarian settlement in the ancient parish of West Ham, which transformed into an industrial suburb...
. He was arrested on 18 February 2002.
Abu Hamza al-Masri
Abu Hamza al-Masri is an Egyptian Sunni activist known for his preaching of a violent and politicised interpretation of Islam, also known as militant Islamism or jihadism...
, the Egyptian ousted from the Finsbury Park mosque
Finsbury Park Mosque
North London Central Mosque in Finsbury Park, London was built in the 1990s to serve the large Muslim population in the area. It has a capacity of 1,800 people....
who is known for preaching against non-Muslims, and who is currently incarcerated in the United Kingdom for various offenses. El-Faisal is reportedly a former supporter of Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden was the founder of the militant Islamist organization Al-Qaeda, the jihadist organization responsible for the September 11 attacks on the United States and numerous other mass-casualty attacks against civilian and military targets...
, and has been linked to al-Qaeda
Al-Qaeda
Al-Qaeda is a global broad-based militant Islamist terrorist organization founded by Osama bin Laden sometime between August 1988 and late 1989. It operates as a network comprising both a multinational, stateless army and a radical Sunni Muslim movement calling for global Jihad...
members.
Conviction and imprisonment: 2003–07
ConvictionAfter a four-week trial at the Old Bailey
Old Bailey
The Central Criminal Court in England and Wales, commonly known as the Old Bailey from the street in which it stands, is a court building in central London, one of a number of buildings housing the Crown Court...
, el-Faisal was found guilty by a jury of six men and six women on 24 February 2003 of: (a) three charges of soliciting the murder
Soliciting to murder
Soliciting to murder is a statutory offence of incitement in England and Wales and Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.-England and Wales:This offence is created by section 4 of the Offences against the Person Act 1861 which reads:...
of Jews, Americans, Hindus, and Christians; and (b) two charges of using threatening words to stir up racial hatred, in tapes of speeches to his followers.
The prior December, a poll had indicated that 8 per cent of the British Muslims it sampled would support terrorist acts against England. He was also the first Muslim cleric to be tried in the UK.
Taped lectures
In tapes of lectures he had given, he exhorted Muslim women to buy toy guns for their children, to train them for jihad. El-Faisal tried to recruit British schoolboys for terrorist training camps, promising them "seventy-two virgins in paradise" if they died fighting a holy war
Religious war
A religious war; Latin: bellum sacrum; is a war caused by, or justified by, religious differences. It can involve one state with an established religion against another state with a different religion or a different sect within the same religion, or a religiously motivated group attempting to...
. El-Faisal said "Those who want to go to Jannah
Jannah
Jannah , is the Islamic conception of paradise. The Arabic word Jannah is a shortened version meaning simply "Garden". According to Islamic eschatology, after death, one will reside in the grave until the appointed resurrection on . Muslims believe that the treatment of the individual in the life...
[paradise], it's easy, just kill a Kaffar [unbeliever] ... by killing that Kaffar you have purchased your ticket to paradise." He told audiences to kill Hindus, Jews, and other non-Muslims like "cockroaches".
On one tape, titled "Jihad
Jihad
Jihad , an Islamic term, is a religious duty of Muslims. In Arabic, the word jihād translates as a noun meaning "struggle". Jihad appears 41 times in the Quran and frequently in the idiomatic expression "striving in the way of God ". A person engaged in jihad is called a mujahid; the plural is...
", he said: "Our methodology is the bullet, not the ballot." In a tape called "Rules of Jihad", thought to have been made before the 9/11 attacks, he said: "You have to learn how to shoot. You have to learn how to fly planes, drive tanks, and you have to learn how to load your guns and to use missiles. You are only allowed to use nuclear weapons in that country which is 100% unbelievers." He encouraged the use of "anything, even chemical weapons", to "exterminate non-believers". A picture of the burning World Trade Center
World Trade Center
The original World Trade Center was a complex with seven buildings featuring landmark twin towers in Lower Manhattan, New York City, United States. The complex opened on April 4, 1973, and was destroyed in 2001 during the September 11 attacks. The site is currently being rebuilt with five new...
was on the cover of one recording.
He lectured: "So you go to India, and if you see a Hindu walking down the road you are allowed to kill him and take his money, is that clear?" He also suggested that nuclear power stations could be fueled with the bodies of Hindus, slaughtered for their "oppression" of Muslims in Kashmir
Kashmir
Kashmir is the northwestern region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term Kashmir geographically denoted only the valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir Panjal mountain range...
. "Jews," el-Faisal said, "should be killed ... as by Hitler." He said: "People with British passports, if you fly into Israel, it is easy. Fly into Israel and do whatever you can. If you die, you are up in paradise. How do you fight a Jew? You kill a Jew. In the case of Hindus, by bombing their businesses."
During the trial, he denied he had intended to incite people to violence. He also testified that he had held Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden was the founder of the militant Islamist organization Al-Qaeda, the jihadist organization responsible for the September 11 attacks on the United States and numerous other mass-casualty attacks against civilian and military targets...
in "great respect," but that bin Laden had "lost the path" since September 11.
Sentencing and appeal
El-Faisal was sentenced on 7 March 2003 to nine years in prison. He received seven years for soliciting murder, 12 months to run concurrently for using threatening words with intent to stir up racial hatred, and a further two years (to run consecutively) for distributing threatening recordings with intent to stir up racial hatred. Old Bailey judge Peter Beaumont delivered the sentence. He said el-Faisal had "fanned the flames of hostility", and told him: "As the jury found, you not only preached hate, but the words you uttered in those meetings were recorded to reach a wider audience. You urged those who listened and watched to kill those who did not share your faith." The judge suggested that el-Faisal serve at least half his sentence, and then be deported.
On 17 February 2004 el-Faisal lost an appeal of his conviction. While in prison, he sought to become a representative of Muslim prisoners, leading demonstrations and hunger strikes, and saying: "if you're a cleric, you have to set an example for other Muslim prisoners to follow, and you're not supposed to crack under pressure". He ended up serving four years.
Followers: 9/11 plotter, Richard Reid, 7/7 and Flight 253 bombers
Prosecutors said he preached to 2001 shoe bomber Richard ReidRichard Reid (shoe bomber)
Richard Colvin Reid , also known as the Shoe Bomber, is a self-admitted member of al-Qaeda who pled guilty in 2002 in U.S. federal court to eight criminal counts of terrorism stemming from his attempt to destroy a commercial aircraft in-flight by detonating explosives hidden in his shoes...
and 9/11 plotter Zacarias Moussaoui
Zacarias Moussaoui
Zacarias Moussaoui is a French citizen who was convicted of conspiring to kill citizens of the US as part of the September 11 attacks...
.
In addition, two of the four accused 2005 7/7 suicide bombers, Muhammad Sidique Khan, responsible for the Edgware Road blast that killed 6 people, and Jamaican-born Briton Germaine Lindsay
Germaine Lindsay
Germaine Maurice Lindsay , also known as Abdullah Shaheed Jamal, was one of the four homegrown terrorists who detonated bombs on three trains on the London Underground and one bus in central London during the 7 July 2005 London bombings, killing 56 people , and injuring more than 700...
, responsible for the blast that killed 26 people at King's Cross
Kings Cross, London
King's Cross is an area of London partly in the London Borough of Camden and partly in the London Borough of Islington. It is an inner-city district located 2.5 miles north of Charing Cross. The area formerly had a reputation for being a red light district and run-down. However, rapid regeneration...
tube station, were followers of El-Faisal. In an interview with the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
in June 2008, he admitted knowing Germaine Lindsay but insisted he had not radicalized him.
In a May 2005 online posting under the name “farouk1986,” Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab
Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab
Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab , popularly referred to as the "Underwear Bomber", is a suspected terrorist who attempted to detonate plastic explosives hidden in his underwear while on board Northwest Airlines Flight 253, en route from Amsterdam to Detroit, Michigan, on December 25,...
, the suspected Christmas Day 2009 Flight 253
Northwest Airlines Flight 253
Northwest Airlines Flight 253 was an international passenger flight from Amsterdam Airport Schiphol in Haarlemmermeer, Netherlands, to Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport in Romulus, Michigan, United States...
bomber, referred to El-Faisal, writing: "i thought once they are arrested, no one hears about them for life and the keys to their prison wards are thrown away. That’s what I heard sheikh faisal of UK say (he has also been arrested i heard)."
Deportations from the UK, Botswana, and Kenya: May 2007–present
Upon being eligible for parole, el-Faisal was released from prison, deportedDeportation
Deportation means the expulsion of a person or group of people from a place or country. Today it often refers to the expulsion of foreign nationals whereas the expulsion of nationals is called banishment, exile, or penal transportation...
to Jamaica, and permanently banned from the UK on 25 May 2007. He remained on an international watch list. Andrew Dismore
Andrew Dismore
Andrew Hartley Dismore is a British Labour Party politician and a Vice-Chair of the Labour Friends of Israel group who was the Member of Parliament for Hendon from 1997 until 2010 when he was beaten by Conservative Party candidate Matthew Offord.-Early life:Dismore was born in Bridlington,...
, a Labour
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
Member of Parliament
Parliament
A parliament is a legislature, especially in those countries whose system of government is based on the Westminster system modeled after that of the United Kingdom. The name is derived from the French , the action of parler : a parlement is a discussion. The term came to mean a meeting at which...
, noted that deportation might not adequately address the risks posed by el-Faisal, saying: "Once he's deported to Jamaica, what restrictions will there be to prevent him spreading his message of hate over the Internet?" He is said to preach extremists views online at paltalk chat rooms and associated with the authentic tawheed website.
On his arrival in Jamaica, the Islamic Council of Jamaica banned him from preaching in its mosques. He began to again give lectures, conduct Q&A sessions via online chats, and established himself at the pulpit of a mosque in Spanish Town
Spanish Town
Spanish Town is the capital and the largest town in the parish of St. Catherine in the county of Middlesex, Jamaica. It was the former Spanish and English capital of Jamaica from the 16th to the 19th century...
, just west of Kingston, Jamaica
Kingston, Jamaica
Kingston is the capital and largest city of Jamaica, located on the southeastern coast of the island. It faces a natural harbour protected by the Palisadoes, a long sand spit which connects the town of Port Royal and the Norman Manley International Airport to the rest of the island...
. The content of his sermons remained the same as that which was submitted at his trial.
In June 2008 he was preaching in South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
. He reportedly traveled by road through various countries in Africa including Nigeria
Nigeria
Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...
, Angola
Angola
Angola, officially the Republic of Angola , is a country in south-central Africa bordered by Namibia on the south, the Democratic Republic of the Congo on the north, and Zambia on the east; its west coast is on the Atlantic Ocean with Luanda as its capital city...
, Malawi
Malawi
The Republic of Malawi is a landlocked country in southeast Africa that was formerly known as Nyasaland. It is bordered by Zambia to the northwest, Tanzania to the northeast, and Mozambique on the east, south and west. The country is separated from Tanzania and Mozambique by Lake Malawi. Its size...
, Swaziland
Swaziland
Swaziland, officially the Kingdom of Swaziland , and sometimes called Ngwane or Swatini, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa, bordered to the north, south and west by South Africa, and to the east by Mozambique...
, Mozambique
Mozambique
Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique , is a country in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west and Swaziland and South Africa to the southwest...
, Botswana
Botswana
Botswana, officially the Republic of Botswana , is a landlocked country located in Southern Africa. The citizens are referred to as "Batswana" . Formerly the British protectorate of Bechuanaland, Botswana adopted its new name after becoming independent within the Commonwealth on 30 September 1966...
, and Tanzania
Tanzania
The United Republic of Tanzania is a country in East Africa bordered by Kenya and Uganda to the north, Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west, and Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique to the south. The country's eastern borders lie on the Indian Ocean.Tanzania is a state...
before entering Kenya
Kenya
Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...
.
Along the way, Botswana had deported him on suspicion that he was recruiting and training young Batswana to become suicide bombers, and that he was linked to a since-destroyed training camp outside Lobatse.
Kenya
El-Faisal was allowed entry to Kenya
Kenya
Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...
on 24 December 2009, due to a computer error. El-Faisal was arrested in Kenya on New Year's Eve
New Year's Eve
New Year's Eve is observed annually on December 31, the final day of any given year in the Gregorian calendar. In modern societies, New Year's Eve is often celebrated at social gatherings, during which participants dance, eat, consume alcoholic beverages, and watch or light fireworks to mark the...
2009 by anti-terror police as he was leaving a mosque in the town of Mombasa
Mombasa
Mombasa is the second-largest city in Kenya. Lying next to the Indian Ocean, it has a major port and an international airport. The city also serves as the centre of the coastal tourism industry....
. Authorities said they arrested him because he breached the terms of his tourist visa, which did not allow him to preach. He was initially stuck in Kenya despite attempts to deport him, because of his history of involvement in terrorist activities, because other countries refused to allow him to transit through them. While Jamaica had said it would accept him, and keep a close eye on him, South Africa, the U.K., the U.S., and Tanzania all declined to issue him transit visas that would allow him to connect to flights to Jamaica.
He was deported from Kenya on 7 January 2010, which sought to send him to the West African nation of Gambia, which agreed to accept el-Faisal at his request. But as he was being transported through Nigeria, Nigerian authorities refused to grant him a transit visa and instead sent him back to Kenya on 10 January 2010. The Gambian government also indicated it would not grant him entry because of the "bad publicity" surrounding his deportation.
A few hundred Muslim Kenyan protesters attended a street demonstration 8 January 2010, protesting the "unfair" treatment of el-Faisal, chanting "Allahu Akbar". On 15 January Kenyan security forces shot in the air and fired tear gas at hundreds of people in Nairobi, some holding the flag of Somali Islamist freedom fighters group al Shabaab, protested his detention, and some Kenyans, angry at the protesters, hurled stones at the marchers. The following day at least five people died in demonstrations after Friday prayers at Jamia Mosque.
Jamaica
He was deported from Kenya on a private plane (at a cost in excess of $523,000), and on 22 January 2010 arrived back in Jamaica. There, he was questioned by Special Branch
Special Branch
Special Branch is a label customarily used to identify units responsible for matters of national security in British and Commonwealth police forces, as well as in the Royal Thai Police...
investigators who made it clear that he had not broken any laws in Jamaica, but that the police wanted to make sure they knew where and how to find him "because of the international attention he has received". The Islamic Council of Jamaica banned him from preaching at any of its 12 mosques, but said it will not prevent him from worshiping at them.
Further reading
- al-Ashanti, AbdulHaq and as-Salafi, Abu Ameenah AbdurRahman. (2011) Abdullah El-Faisal Al-Jamayki: A Critical Study of His Statements, Errors and Extremism in Takfeer. London: Jamiah Media, 2011 ISBN 978-0955109997
External links
- Devil’s Deception of “Shaikh” Faisal
- A Profile of Radical Jamaican-born Cleric Sheikh Abdullah al-Faisal al-Jamaikee published by the Jamestown Foundation in Washington, DC
- Official Website of Sheikh Faisal's North American Representatives
- A Profile of Radical Jamaican-born Cleric Sheikh Abdullah al-Faisal al-Jamaikee published by the Jamestown Foundation in Washington, DC
- El-Faisal Debate with Abu Qatadah in the mid-1990s
- Abu Hamza al-Misri Refuting Abdullah el-Faisal
- "Royal Court of Justice – Judgment in Appeal of Crown v. El-Faisal, Supreme Court of Judicature, Court of Appeal"; 4 March 2004
- "The Devil's Deception of Abdullaah Faisal ('Sheikh Faisal'); Critical Study of his Methodology"; SalafiManhaj (2007)
- "A Study of the Tafseer of 'Abdullaah ibn 'Abbaas "kufr doona kufr'"; Critique of Abdullah el-Faisal"; SalafiManhaj (2008)
- "Interview with 'hate' preacher," BBC, 20 June 2008
- Jamaican Cleric Uses Web To Spread Jihad Message – audio report by NPRNPRNPR, formerly National Public Radio, is a privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization that serves as a national syndicator to a network of 900 public radio stations in the United States. NPR was created in 1970, following congressional passage of the Public Broadcasting...