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WASHINGTON, D.C. (August 23, 2006) - The
Hindu American Foundation (HAF) expressed serious concern
today over reports that a radical U.K.-based Islamic cleric
is to be released on parole. The Jamaican-born Sheikh Abdullah
el-Faisal was sentenced in 2003 for nine years, convicted
of inciting racial hatred and soliciting the murder of Hindus,
Jews, other non-Muslims, and Americans. He is set to be released
early from prison in a few weeks and will likely be deported
to Jamaica.
In his sermons, El-Faisal encouraged Muslims
to wage jihad against non-Muslims using violent terrorist
tactics. He has supported the use of nuclear and chemical
weapons to "exterminate non-believers", and encouraged
his congregations to train in operating planes, tanks, Kalashnikov
rifles and missile launchers. He regularly called for the
killing of non-Muslims, particularly Jews and Hindus. In one
lecture, he remarked, "How do you fight a Jew? You kill
a Jew. In the case of Hindus, by bombing their businesses."
In another talk, he suggested that Hindus should be slaughtered
and their bodies used to fuel nuclear power plants.
El-Faisal has preached to hundreds of Muslims
in the United Kingdom, including several known al-Qaeda operatives.
James Ujaama, an American citizen currently imprisoned for
conspiring to aid the Taliban, Richard Reid, who attempted
to detonate a shoe-bomb on a transatlantic flight, and Zacarias
Moussaoui, a co-conspirator in the September 11 attacks, have
all reportedly attended his lectures in the past. In addition,
intelligence agencies have credited El-Faisal with radicalizing
other Islamic terrorists including Abdullah Shaheed Jamal,
a suicide bomber who took part in the July 2005 London subway
bombings.
"The release of El-Faisal poses a grave
threat to Muslims and non-Muslims alike," said Pawan
Deshpande, member of the HAF Executive Council. "A freed
El-Faisal can continue to interpret Islam to pursue the violent
agenda of terrorizing non-Muslims."
The Hindu American Foundation is a non-profit
501(c)(3), non-partisan organization, promoting the Hindu
and American ideals of understanding, tolerance and pluralism.
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