Abu Hamza fools the prosecutor

Abu Hamza al-Masri told his followers it was their religious duty to kill non-Muslims. Should the prosecutor at the Old Bailey have been surprised?

The prosecutor said:

No religion condones the murder or killing of innocent men, women or children or the dissemination of hatred and bigotry...The prosecution's case in a sentence is that the defendant, Sheik Abu Hamza, was preaching murder and hatred in these talks. You will hear the tapes and we will hear that the defendant, Sheik Abu Hamza, encouraged his listeners, whether they were an audience at a private meeting or a congregation at the mosque, to believe that it was part of a religious duty to fight in the cause of Allah, God, and as part of the religious duty to fight in the cause of Allah, it was part of the religious duty to kill.

This was not a trial against Islam, said the prosecutor, and added that it wasn't a trial against its holy book, the Koran, either; he said the case had been brought because of what the defendant said.

What the prosecution say is that it is quite clear that no religion condones the murder or killing of innocent men, women or children or the dissemination of hatred and bigotry. Mr Perry told jurors that in his position Mr Abu Hamza should have been preaching tolerance and mutual co-existence but in fact he preached intolerance, bigotry and hatred. In the course of one lecture he accused the Jews of being blasphemous, traitors and dirty. This, because of the treachery, because of their blasphemy and filth, was why Hitler was sent into the world, Mr Perry said. Mr Abu Hamza had also said Jews controlled the West and should be removed from the earth, Mr Perry said.

This aspect of his teaching also represents the offences of inciting racial hatred, he added. (Source: BBC)

Mr Perry! Are we to assume from this that you do not consider Islam to be a religion? Or are you, as I suspect, making the same mistake that so many other Westerners make - the mistake that people like Abu Hamza are distorting the real message of Islam?

Mr Perry! I've got something to tell you! Welcome to the world of Islam!

©Mark Alexander