Police May Swoop On Baker Street Mullah

Police May Swoop On Baker Street Mullah

by David Leppard and Nicholas Rufford
The London Times (Sunday)
October 21, 2001

A Muslim cleric in Britain who openly supports Osama Bin Laden could be imprisoned indefinitely under new anti-terrorist laws due to come into effect before Christmas. Ministerial sources say Abu Qatada, who has been living on at least Pounds 400 a week in state benefits, is likely to be caught by provisions that will allow police to jail people suspected of involvement in terrorism abroad.

Qatada, who said he "respected" Bin Laden and that the September 11 atrocities were not a bad act, was until recently receiving Pounds 322 a week in housing benefit and Pounds 70 a week incapacity benefit because he is too ill to work.

Nevertheless, he was able to lead regular Friday prayer meetings at a community centre near Baker Street, central London, which were attended by at least one terrorist suspect linked to Bin Laden.

Qatada, 40, lives in a semi-detached house in Acton, west London, and claims child benefit for several children. He was granted indefinite leave to remain in Britain after seeking asylum in 1993, but that could be withdrawn if he is regarded as a threat to national security.

The government will also consider any fresh application for his deportation to Jordan, where he was sentenced in his absence in 1999 for involvement in a series of explosions. He is said to have plotted the attacks from Britain.

His assets were frozen earlier this month after he was named on a US Treasury list of individuals and organisations with suspected terrorist connections. His welfare payments were recently stopped.

A Whitehall source said: "With Abu Qatada it is foreseeable, given the current circumstances, that he would be caught by this new (anti-terrorist) provision."

David Blunkett, the home secretary, is also looking at ways of expelling militant Muslims who have been allowed to stay here but who are now suspected of links to terrorist activity.

Qatada has been linked by investigators in America and Britain to suspects arrested over terrorist plots in America and Europe, although he denies any involvement. Zacarias Moussaoui, the alleged 20th hijacker who is being questioned by the FBI in New York, attended Qatada's weekly prayer meetings at the Four Feathers community centre in London.

New evidence has also emerged linking Qatada to a man at the centre of a plot to blow up the US embassy in Paris. Djamel Beghal, a disciple of Osama Bin Laden, said he was converted to hardline fundamentalism by Qatada. Beghal was arrested carrying a false passport in Dubai on his way back from a training camp in Afghanistan in July and was handed to French authorities.

The 36-year-old Algerian emigrated to London from France in 1997 to meet Qatada. He lived in a three- bedroom house in Rose Street, Leicester, with his French wife, Sylvie, and their children. His neighbours remember him as quiet. One recalled: "They appeared to be a devout Muslim family. His wife always wore the full burqa."

Under interrogation in Dubai, Beghal told police he had received orders from Al-Qaeda, Bin Laden's network, to attack the American embassy in Paris. His testimony led to arrests across Europe. He later retracted his statement, saying he had been beaten by police.

However, during questioning in Paris he told investigators that he ran cells of al-Takfir wal-Hijra, a terror group said to be directed by Bin Laden, in France, Holland and Belgium.

Scotland Yard has also identified two white non-Muslims, one a computer expert, suspected of helping fundamentalist terrorists in Britain. Detectives are continuing to monitor Omar al-Bayoumi, also known as Abu Imard, who lives in Britain. He is on an American list of more than 300 suspects believed to be connected to the September 11 attacks.

The 44-year-old father of four returned to his studies at Aston University after he was held for a week at Paddington Green, west London, and questioned on whether he had been a referee for one of the New York hijackers while he was living in California earlier this year. He denies links to Bin Laden or to terrorism.

Aston University has paid for counselling for al-Bayoumi to "determine whether he has any problems settling back into student life" after his arrest.

Qatada denied on Friday that he knew Bin Laden: "I have absolutely no connection or relation with Osama Bin Laden. I have never met him."

Asked whether he supported Bin Laden, he said: "He is a Muslim and he seeks to liberate his land from the enemies of the Muslim nation. As I am a Muslim there is no other choice but to support him. We have an obligation to support him."

Investigators following the money trail to the hijackers have identified an account belonging to Mohammed Atta, their suspected leader. The account, at a branch of Citibank in Dubai, was "busier" than usual and there were frequent transfers of between $ 10,000 and $ 15,000, according to Sultan bin Nasser al- Suweidi, governor of the UAE Central Bank.

Marwan al-Shehhi, another of the 19 hijackers, had an account at a branch of London-based HSBC, also in Dubai.

Yesterday it emerged that a charity accused of being used as a front for Bin Laden received United Nations aid worth almost $ 2m (Pounds 1.4m) for the promotion of education and social development in Sudan.

The US Treasury claims the Muwafaq Foundation was used to channel Saudi donations to Bin Laden's organisation, but has not frozen its assets. The allegation has been denied by lawyers for the charity.

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