Abu Izzadeen
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Abu Izzadeen (Arabic: ابو عز الدين, Abū ‘Izz ad-Dīn), born as Trevor Brooks (18 April 1976), is a spokesman for Al Ghurabaa, a Muslim organization banned under the Terrorism Act 2006 for the glorification of terrorism, that operated in the United Kingdom.[1] Abu Izzadeen was arrested because of these films placed on an internet site. The police also arrested five others during the same raid. He was convicted on charges of terrorist fund-raising and inciting terrorism overseas on 17 April 2008,[2] and sentenced to four and a half years in jail. He was released in May 2009[3], after serving 3 and half years, including time on remand.
Contents |
[edit] Personal background
Abu Izzadeen is a British man born in Hackney, East London to a family originally from Jamaica. Brooks converted to Islam a day before he turned 18, on the 17 April 1994, changing his name to Omar, but preferring to be called Abu Izadeen. He is fluent in Arabic.[4][5]
He trained and once worked as an electrician. He and his Arab-born wife Mokhtaria were married in 1998; they have three children.[5][6][7]
In 2006, he placed a personal advertisement on an Islamic matrimonial website, seeking to marry up to three more wives in order to father more than nine children. Polygamy is illegal in the UK. Izzadeen did not respond to questions from the Evening Standard about the ad and it has since been removed.[6]
[edit] Political activities
Abu Izzadeen met Omar Bakri Muhammed and Abu Hamza al-Masri at Finsbury Park Mosque in the 1990s; this is when he is thought to have been radicalized.[6]
He visited Pakistan in 2001, before the September 11 attacks, as part of Al-Muhajiroun; he claims he went there to give a series of lectures. He also claimed to have attended terror training camps in Afghanistan.[5][6]
He described the 7/7 suicide bombers in London as "completely praiseworthy".[8]
On the eve of the anniversary of the 7/7 attacks in London, he was filmed preaching to a group of Muslims in Birmingham (UK) mocking and laughing at the victims of 9/11 and threatening further terror attacks in the UK.[9]
He has openly stated that he wishes to die as a suicide bomber.[10]
On 20 September 2006, Abu Izadeen and Anjem Choudary disrupted Home Secretary John Reid's first public meeting with Muslims since his appointment. He called Reid an "enemy" of Islam.[11]. John Humphrys interviewed Izzadeen on the 22 September 2006 edition of BBC Radio 4's Today programme. In a heated discussion Abu Izadeen stated that his aim was to bring about Sharia law in the UK and that this should be achieved without following the democratic process but rather "in accordance to the Islamic methodology".[12]
[edit] Arrests
[edit] February 2007
British police arrested Abu Izadeen on charges of inciting terrorism on 2007-02-08. A spokesman for Scotland Yard said the arrest is related to an "on-going inquiry," involving a speech Abu Izadeen gave in the West Midlands area in 2006, which predates the 20 September 2006 incident.[13][14]
[edit] April 2007
He was arrested again in a pre-dawn police raid on 2007-04-24 under the Terrorism Act 2000 "in connection with inciting others to commit acts of terrorism overseas and terrorist fundraising". [15]
[edit] April 2008
On 2008-04-17 Izzadeen was among six men convicted at Kingston Crown Court of supporting terrorism, while the jury failed to reach a verdict on a third charge of encouraging terrorism.[16] He was subsequently jailed for four and a half years.
[edit] See also
- Abdul-Aziz ibn Myatt
- Khalid Kelly
- Anjem Choudary
- Abu Uzair
- Hassan Butt
- Andrew Ibrahim
- Sulayman Keeler
- Abu Hamza al-Masri
- Omar Bakri Muhammad
[edit] References
- ^ Terror treason charge considered BBC News
- ^ Six guilty of terrorism support BBC News
- ^ Radical preacher released early BBC News
- ^ debate on Newsnight about Abu Izzadeen and extremism Youtube
- ^ a b c Al Shafey, Mohammed (2006-05-09). "The UK's New Face of Radicalism". Asharq Alawsat. http://www.aawsat.com/english/news.asp?section=3&id=4873. Retrieved 2007-02-08.
- ^ a b c d "Wanted: three more wives for Islamist heckler". The Daily Mail. 2006-09-26. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=407055&in_page_id=1770. Retrieved 2007-02-09.
- ^ "The electrician who turned into a radical". The Telegraph. 2007-02-09. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/02/09/nmuslim109.xml. Retrieved 2007-02-09.
- ^ Reborn extremist sect had key role in London protest Guardian Unlimited
- ^ Smug British Terrorist mocks victims of 9/11, 7/7, etc Youtube
- ^ Inside the sect that loves terror Times Online
- ^ Reid heckled during Muslim speech BBC News
- ^ BBC interview with Abu Izzadeen BBC Radio 4
- ^ Reid Heckler Arrested Sky News
- ^ "UK police arrest outspoken Muslim" (HTML). CNN World. Cable News Network. 2007. http://edition.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/europe/02/08/britain.arrest.reut/index.html. Retrieved 2007-02-08.
- ^ http://uk.news.yahoo.com/afp/20070424/tuk-britain-attacks-arrests-a7ad41d_1.html
- ^ "Six guilty of terrorism support". BBC. 2008-04-17. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7352969.stm.
|
||||||||||||||
