Omar Bakri: Rescue Me

posted at 1:28 am on July 21, 2006 by Bryan
Share on Facebook | printer-friendly

File this under You’ve. Got. To. Be. Kidding.

EXILED preacher of hate Omar Bakri has begged the Royal Navy to rescue him from war-torn Beirut.

Let’s skip to the end of his Sun story, then work our way back to Bakri’s plight:

Bakri, 46, left his family in Edmonton, North London, last August and went to Lebanon after a Sun campaign to kick him out.

Now, why would a newspaper campaign to kick a fella out of Britain? His Wikipedia entry is colorful:

Bakri joined the Syrian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood as a young man participating in their revolt in 1982 against the Syrian Ba’ath Party and the government of Hafez al-Assad. When the rebellion was crushed by the authorities Bakri relocated to Beirut, gained Lebanese citizenship and joined the local branch of Hizb ut-Tahrir.

In 1983, Bakri moved to Jeddah in Saudi Arabia where he set up Al-Muhajiroun as one of the front organizations for Hizb ut-Tahrir in Saudi Arabia. Bakri moved to Britain in 1985 and was given indefinite leave to remain under political asylum laws. He founded the Al-Khilafa publishing house in London and served as a judge in the Shari’a, or Islamic Law, Court of the United Kingdom. From his home in Edmonton, Bakri continued to distribute Islamist literature and organise gatherings in Britain as an informal leader of Al-Muhajiroun.

In 1996, Bakri resigned from Hizb ut-Tahrir after disagreements on policy, style and methods, declaring Al-Muhajiroun an independent organisation. He initially founded the group as a traditional Sunni organisation, dedicated to the tenets of Sharia Law and supportive of international Islamist causes. The group did not directly associate itself with jihad movements; After September 11, 2001, Bakri praised the attackers as “magnificent” and changed his leanings towards the theology and philosophy of Al-Qaida.

That might have something to do with it. Some of his top quotes may shed some light on things too:

# “The life of an unbeliever has no value, it has no sanctity.”
# (On Israel) “We are talking about a cancer in the heart of the Muslim world. It must be eradicated and removed”
# “As long as the Iraqi did not deliberately kill women and children, and they were killed in the crossfire, that would be okay.”

There’s more, with links for your reference and convenience, at Wikipedia. Oh, here’s one more, in honor of the land Bakri is begging to save his sorry hide:

“I would like to see the Islamic flag fly, not only over number 10 Downing Street, but over the whole world.”

Keeping all of that in mind, let’s take one last look at that Sun story:

The Muslim cleric who fled Britain last year, tried to board a ship full of women and children yesterday but was turned away.

He also wrote to the British embassy asking to be allowed back on “humanitarian grounds”.

That’s crazy. But it’s not the craziest thing. The craziest thing is that if his letter hits the right desk, one occupied by some Arabist or leftwinger, Bakri stands a good chance of getting out of the war his pals started and into Londonistan, where he can get to work starting the next one.

Blowback

You must be logged in to post a comment.