Jailed preacher of hate in court battle to stay in Britain
Sheikh Abdullah El-Faisal urged followers to kill Jews, Hindus and Americans A hate preacher blamed for indoctrinating one of the July 7 bombers is using human rights law to fight deportation from Britain, it emerged today.
Sheikh Abdullah El-Faisal - a Jamaican-born Muslim convert who urged followers to kill Jews, Hindus and Americans - is due to be freed from prison within weeks after serving two thirds of a seven-year sentence for inciting murder.
The Home Office has begun legal moves to deport the fanatic, who Ministers say is a continuing threat to national security.
Its official report of the July 7 attacks described El Faisal as a "strong influence" on Jermaine Lindsay, who detonated the Russell Square tube bomb that killed 26 people.
But El Faisal, a twice-married father of four, has lodged an appeal on the grounds that deportation would be a breach of his human right to a family life. He has already lost one hearing, but is now dragging the case to the High Court in the latest setback to Tony Blair's promise to boot out preachers of hate.
A date for the hearing has yet to be set and with further appeals possible, officials say that the legal process is likely to drag on for many months.
Taxpayers will be landed with a bill running to tens of thousands of pounds to meet the legal costs of trying to kick him out.
Conservative MP Patrick Mercer said El Faisal should be removed immediately as he had given no thoughts to the 'human rights' of the people he had been encouraging other extremists to kill. He added: "Let's get rid of this man now to stop him from having the opportunity to poison any more minds."
El Faisal, who was jailed for incitement to murder in 2003, claims deportation would breach article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights. His solicitor, Khalid Sofi, said El Faisal was confident of success.
Mr Sofi added: "His case is based on his human right a family life. He has a family here, he has children and wants to remain here with them." He added that the preacher would be citing an earlier ruling in October 2001 by an immigration court granting him the right to stay in Britain because of his right to a family life.
El Faisal, 43, who is currently being held in Long Lartin prison in Worcestershire, was the first Muslim preacher of hate to be jailed for incitement. He was also convicted of using threatening words to stir up racial hatred.
Peter Beaumont, the Old Bailey judge in the case, said that he had "fanned the flames of hostility" by urging followers to 'kill those who did not share your faith' and recommended his deportation at the end of his sentence.
His convictions followed the discovery of a series of venomous taped lectures in which the Brixton Mosque preacher had urged his followers to "fly planes, drive tanks, load your guns" and use nuclear missiles to kill "all unbelievers". He also called on Muslim women to give their children toy guns to instil in them "the jihad mentality" and tried to recruit schoolboys to join terrorist training camps by promising them "72 virgins in paradise" if they died fighting a holy war.
El Faisal attended and preached at Brixton Mosque, where the shoe-bomber Richard Reid is believed to have met Zacharias Moussaoui, the '20th hijacker' in the 11 September attacks, although he claims to have encountered neither man.
The official narrative of July 7, published by the Home Office last year, said: "It is believed that (Lindsay) was strongly influenced by the extremist preacher Abdullah El-Faisal. Lindsay is believed to have attended at least one lecture and to have listened to tapes of other lectures by him."
He is due for release within the next three weeks, after serving two-thirds of his sentence. He has been entitled to parole for more than a year, but this has never been granted. Government sources said he would be kept behind bars while his appeals are heard.
Unlike other foreign prisoners, he will almost certainly be denied a move to an open prison because of the danger posed.