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| Terror Networks & Islam |
| Scots muslim convert 'Tartan Talibanâ linked to bombers |
| 2005-08-14 |
| We knew this sort of thing was coming. Those in the West who reject the value of western culture aren't free thinkers - they're ripe for conversion to some fundamentalism. What's alarming is that he already was radicalized -- and teaching radical Islamacism -- as early as 2000. A MUSLIM convert who was arrested on suspicion of being an Al-Qaeda terrorist is thought to have presided over Islamic study circles at a bookshop in Leeds where the 7/7 bombers were radicalised. The Sunday Times has been told that Scots-born James McLintock, the so-called Tartan Taliban, preached at the Iqra bookshop in 2000, shortly before moving to Pakistan with his family. His seminars are thought to have been attended by Mohammad Sidique Khan, 30, the suspected ringleader of the July 7 suicide attacks on London, and Shehzad Tanweer, 22, the Aldgate bomber. Both had close links to the bookshop. Hasib Mir Hussain, 18, the bus bomber, was also regularly seen at the store, which sold violent anti-western videos and DVDs. The Scot, who changed his name to Mohammed Yacoub, was arrested by the Pakistani authorities at a checkpoint near the Afghan border in December 2001. Although he claimed to be working for a charity in the region, he was taken to a military prison and questioned by the CIA and anti-terrorism officers from Scotland Yard. Dundee-born Yacoub was released a month later. Yacoub, 41, was arrested again while visiting Manchester in 2003. He was questioned by police investigating possible Al-Qaeda cells operating in the UK, but was released without charge. He has consistently denied having terrorist links or knowledge of terrorist activity. Yacoub lived in Bradford during the mid-1990s. By 2000 he was working in nearby Leeds at a second Islamic bookshop called Rays of Truth with a fellow Muslim convert, Martin Abdullah McDaid. McDaid, a former special forces soldier, was also closely linked to the Iqra bookshop and knew the three Leeds-based bombers. When The Sunday Times approached him about Yacoub last week, McDaid said: âWhether he was at the Iqra bookstore or not is none of your business â you should fear Allah.â A former friend of Khanâs said: âYacoub was definitely giving study circles. I remember walking past the Iqra shop one day. I asked who was giving the talk and a brother said it was Yacoub. Other brothers I know were also aware that Yacoub was giving study circles.â It has also emerged that an extremist Muslim cleric, now in prison, preached at mosques in the district of Leeds where three of the four bombers lived. Sheikh Abdullah al-Faisal was jailed in 2003 for inciting followers in study circles, which he conducted across the country, to murder Jews, Christians and Hindus. He also encouraged teenage boys to train and die in the name of Allah. Afzal Choudhary, a race equality worker in Leeds, said: âSheikh Faisal came at least twice to Beeston. I should know, because I was one of the people opposed to his coming.â |
| Posted by:leader of the pack |
| #3 A race equality worker equalizes the races; too many oranges in surgery, get me some blues, too many blues in accounting, shift them to surgery. You know, government work. |
| Posted by: Mrs. Davis 2005-08-14 15:49 |
| #2 "...Afzal Choudhary, a race equality worker in Leeds, said: âSheikh Faisal came at least twice to Beeston. I should know, because I was one of the people opposed to his coming.â ------------------------------------------ Does anyone know what a race equality worker is? |
| Posted by: mhw 2005-08-14 15:03 |
| #1 Well, at least he didn't convert to Catholicism. |
| Posted by: Brett 2005-08-14 13:28 |