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| Britain |
| Student 'library of hate aimed to stir holy war' |
| 2007-04-26 |
| Five students gathered a "shocking" computer library of terrorist propaganda to encourage young people to give up their lives for Muslim holy war, a court has heard. Bradford University students Aitzaz Zafar, 18, Awaab Iqbal, 19, Usman Malik, 19, and Akbar Butt, 20, and sixth-form pupil Mohammed Irfan Raja, 18, hoped to spread their message among Muslims across the world, jurors were told. Butt even discussed holy war – or jihad – in chat forums from his computer terminal in the university library, and said he downloaded many martyrdom videos which made him "happy" because the extremists he knew in Bradford were "all talk". The five were planning to travel to terror training camps in Pakistan before going into action, the Old Bailey in London heard. They hoped to recruit impressionable young people, gathering a sinister collection of martyrdom videos, extreme Islamic literature and al-Qaida terror network instruction manuals to further their aim, it was said. Andrew Edis, prosecuting, told jurors: "The evidence will show that this group of five young men collected together a very large quantity of extreme Islamist and terrorist propaganda. It was propaganda of a kind intended to convey to Muslims everywhere this message: It is your religious duty to go to fight the jihad – jihad as physical fighting in the cause of Islam, fighting the disbelievers in order to clear the Muslim lands of any foreign occupation ... to fight and, if necessary, by dying until Muslim countries are clear of foreigners. "There is a great deal of celebration of martyrdom, the rewards of dying in the name of jihad are repeated over and over again as an incitement and religious incentive to obey a religious command of duty." Material found on the computers of the defendants allegedly encouraged young Muslims to travel to Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq to fight with the Mujihadeen – warriors of the jihad. It also glorified suicide attackers including the September 11 hijackers, and called for attacks on Jewish communities and Britain, the court heard. Jurors were warned they might be alarmed by the extreme material they would need to view during the trial. Mr Edis added: "It will probably shock you in a number of ways, not necessarily because of the physical violence but because of the veneration of suicide as a weapon of war or terrorism. But this trial is not about why hatred exists or whether it is justified or not. This trial is not about whether somebody is entitled to hold strong political views. This trial is not about whether people are entitled to follow their religion in this country." "It is about an answer to this question: Did these young men accumulate and use this material as part of a process which was intended to encourage them and others to carry out terrorist acts? Were they collecting these religious instructions and motivational propagandist films, collecting them together to encourage themselves and others they may recruit into their group?" The five defendants are all charged with possessing articles likely to be useful to terrorists, which were uncovered during raids on their homes. Iqbal, a forensic science student of Grove Terrace, Bradford, and Zafar, of Bishop Street, Rochdale, both deny possessing three CDs between February 23 and March 3 2006. Iqbal alone denies possessing discs, a video recording and a hard drive. Zafar denies possession of two computer hard drives and four discs. Malik, of Laisteridge Lane, Bradford, denies possessing a document called "Raising Mujihadeen children" and "joining the caravan", and a USB drive. Butt, of no known address, denies two counts of possessing a laptop hard drive. Raja, of Ilford, London, denies two charges of possessing three CDs containing Islamic material and documents on a hard drive. The trial continues. |
| Posted by:ryuge |
| #7 does Akbar Butt translate to "big butt?" More like "great piece of ass". |
| Posted by: Zenster 2007-04-26 23:03 |
| #6 Since Akbar means something like "great" or "grand," does Akbar Butt translate to "big butt?" |
| Posted by: Jackal 2007-04-26 22:21 |
| #5 What's the problem ? Moderate Muslims engaged in collecting data and propaganda so the lesser informed can take advantage. No problem. |
| Posted by: wxjames 2007-04-26 14:46 |
| #4 Aitzaz Zafar, 18, Awaab Iqbal, 19, Usman Malik, 19, and Akbar Butt, 20, and sixth-form pupil Mohammed Irfan Raja, 18 There's that name again! |
| Posted by: Zenster 2007-04-26 13:56 |
| #3 University students Aitzaz Zafar, 18, Awaab Iqbal, 19, Usman Malik, 19, and Akbar Butt, 20, and sixth-form pupil Mohammed Irfan Raja, 18 heh heh... he said 'butt' |
| Posted by: beavis and butthead 2007-04-26 12:21 |
| #2 I'm so glad you had a chance to see that TW, and thank you for your kind words as well. There are a lot of others here about whom I could say a lot of nice things as well. For now I'll just say many thanks to Fred, the patient and helpful moderators and all the regular commenters here. |
| Posted by: ryuge 2007-04-26 09:00 |
| #1 And in opposition to all that hatefulness, we have Rantburg. Off topic: ryuge, I just read your sweet comment from yesterday, responding to my thoughts about Spinoza. I'm glad you felt welcomed here when first you commented; you've been quite an asset to this wonderful community, who've expanded my view so far beyond the bounds of my own sheltered life. :-) |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2007-04-26 08:26 |