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MOSQUES IN BRITAIN SPREADING DANGEROUS EXTREMISM "THAT WOULD BE BANNED IN IRAQ"

Mosques in Britain are spreading a dangerous brand of extremism that would be outlawed in Iraq – says the Deputy Prime Minister of Iraq. This “shocking indictment” came from Dr Barham Salih, who said he was appalled by the level of fundamentalism he found taking root in Britain which has for decades provided a haven for Islamists under the failed Covenant of Security.

After visiting mosques in Lancashire, Dr Salih said: “I am not surprised that you British are facing so many problems with extremists after what I saw in those mosques in Blackburn. What I saw would not be allowed in Iraq – it would be illegal.”

His studios comments reignited the 'debate' on terrororism within the UK and led to a call for a tougher approach towards mosques. Intelligence expert Professor Anthony Glees warned: “This needs to be taken very seriously but the Government is turning a blind eye to it, which I believe is a grave mistake. It should be banned. The Government has to make it clear that there are some things that are simply not negotiable. This is one of them.”

It was during talks in Baghdad that Dr Salih made his shocking revelations to Shadow Culture Minister Tobias Ellwood. “I do not believe these comments can be dismissed out of hand. He went in the mosques and said literature he saw would be illegal. He was quite clear,” said Mr Ellwood.

The Tory MP has experienced terrorism at first hand. His brother Jonathan was among 26 British victims of the Al Qaeda-linked Bali nightclub bombings in 2002. “Many Muslims in Britain want to live peacefully and happily under the British rule of law, but hearing that from another Muslim, who is a leader from a Muslim country, summed up the situation in the UK. It is shocking to hear an Iraqi who went to a mosque in Blackburn saying that that some of its practices should be outlawed.”

And he added: “Is it not time that we took a much tougher approach to what is happening in the 1,300 mosques that we have in the UK?” Muslim leaders in Blackburn dismissed the claims as “rubbish” but the town has had high-level links to terrorism in the past and been targeted by preachers of hate. In response the British National Party has a significant level of support in the beseiged area.

In June 2007, Junade Feroze, 31, from Blackburn, was jailed for 22 years after joining an Al Qaeda cell plotting to plant radiation bombs in Britain and blow up a train in a tunnel below the Thames. The gang also planned to explode stretch limousines packed with radioactive material in underground car parks. The attack cell’s Al Qaeda “general” Dhiren Barot, who was jailed for a minimum 30 years, visited married father-of-three Feroze’s home as he recruited the mass murder suicide unit.

Hook-handed cleric Abu Hamza is also known to have preached in Blackburn before he was jailed. Former Blackburn student Saajid Badat, 26, fell under Hamza’s spell and later pledged to blow himself up on a packed Miami-bound jetliner with failed shoe-bomber Richard Reid in 2001. He had second thoughts but was jailed for 13 years.

But it is still unclear which mosques were visited by Dr Salih, who gave a speech supporting Blackburn MP Jack [man of] Straw in the town’s Bangor Street Community Centre. The building is also a headquarters for the Lancashire Council of Mosques.

Council of Mosques chairman Abdul Hamid said: “I am not aware of these things. They are totally misplaced accusations. Mosques work to bring people together. I do not understand why someone is saying they found extremist literature because there is not any. I think his comments are totally inappropriate. He has come over for a few days. How has he found extremism? What book has he read? “I don’t know which mosques he visited. This is really irresponsible.”

Sunni Muslim Dr Salih, now 47, fled to Britain in 1980 to escape the persecution of the Kurds by Saddam Hussein. During a 10-year exile he studied engineering at Cardiff University and computer modelling at Liverpool University. He won office in 2005 in Iraq’s first democratic elections in 50 years and quickly backed Tony Blair’s decision to topple Saddam.

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