General Sir David Richards, the commander-in-chief of the British army's land forces, has said that the British army plans to recruit more Muslim soldiers, The Sun reports.
Richards told an internal Ministry of Defence journal that "There is an appreciation on our part that the Army would be better getting more Muslims into our ranks."
Last night, the Centre released its latest briefing. It examines the Scottish Islamic Foundation, a new Muslim group which is going to be launched on Thursday by Alex Salmond, Scotland's First Minister.
The briefing paper examines the close links between the Scottish Islamic Foundation and the Muslim Brotherhood and concludes that the Scottish government should be cautious about embracing this new group as being representative of Scottish Muslims. The briefing is available online here.
For those who may have missed it, the BBC recently ran an interview and supporting article with Abdullah Faisal, the radical cleric convicted for soliciting murder and inciting racial hatred in 2003 and deported to Jamaica in May 2007.
Faisal was not confined to his country of origin for long, and is now preaching his radical version of Islam in South Africa, as a prelude to visiting Nigeria. Faisal says this is down to Africa’s spirituality and receptiveness to his message.
Turkey's prominent Islamic scholar, Fethullah Gülen, has been voted the world's top intellectual in a poll to find the world's 100 leading thinkers.
Though the result was apparently brought about by a sustained effort from Fethullahçi (Gülen) supporters, surprising organisers, little about this Sufi cleric is known in the West.
Radical preacher Abu Hamza al-Masri is set to be extradited from imprisonment in the UK to face trial in the US, where he is wanted in conjunction with 11 terrorism charges.
Abu Hamza has connections to, and contributed to the radicalisation of, a plethora of those in the UK convicted on terrorist charges. He was imprisoned in 2006 for inciting murder and racial hatred, possessing ‘threatening, abusive or insulting recordings’ and a document useful to terrorists.
Yesterday the Centre issued a press release revealing how Abu Qatada, the radical Jordanian preacher freed on Tuesday, has previously given pro-jihadist talks while living in the UK. The recorded talks - which are all in Arabic - were obtained by the Centre from a pro-jihadist website run by UK-based extremists.
The Centre argued that these and other recordings show that Abu Qatada should be prosecuted by British courts for glorifying terrorism and inciting violence. The press release, which contains partial transcripts of some of Abu Qatada's speeches, is available here.
Shortly before last week’s unexpected referendum decision in Ireland, a journalist in the Scotsman explained why the Irish had chosen to reject the Lisbon Treaty despite the benefits the EU have showered on their country in recent years. He wrote:
‘The anti-EU lobby … have plastered Ireland with posters warning that the treaty will force Ireland to surrender its sovereignty on moral, military and financial matters. One conjures up the memory of Ireland's patriot dead from the 1919-21 war of independence from Britain. "They died for your freedom. Don't throw it all away. Vote no," it reads.’
Police in Bristol investigating the alleged suicide bomb plot by Andrew Ibrahim, a 19-year old convert to Islam, have arrested a second man under the Terrorism Act.
The unidentified man was arrested earlier today. Police are continuing to search two houses related to the man who, like Andrew Ibrahim, is 19-years old. This new arrest may overturn theories that Ibrahim had largely acted alone.
A postman was today jailed for four years after admitting to 19 separate offences, nine of which fell under the Anti-Terrorism Act, and agreed for another 140 to be considered.
White supremacist Jefferson Azevedo admitted to leaving a hoax bomb on a bridge, sending letters containing white powder and images of Nazi slogans to a variety of people between 2003 - 2007; including Tony Blair, the Attorney General and other government figures.
Those found guilty yesterday of ‘assisting an offender and failing to disclose information’ about failed 21/7 bomber Hussain Osman were sentenced today.
The longest of the sentences handed out was to Osman’s wife, Yeshi Girma, who has been jailed for 15 years for failing to tell the police about her husband’s plot. The judge told Yeshi that “[Y]ou already shared Osman's extreme views on Islam and co-ordinated the escape plan for the father of your three children after he failed to achieve his sought-after place in paradise.”
Sir Norman Bettison, the senior police officer responsible for developing a national strategy aimed at preventing Islamic radicalisation, has been describing the work being undertaken to prevent schoolchildren being "groomed" for terrorism.
Five full time community officers have been working amongst 225,000 Muslims in West Yorkshire, where the 7/7 bombers were based, to identify those who may be showing an unhealthy interest in extremist material over the internet or in bookshops.
Muslim leaders from around the world gathered Monday in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to trade thoughts on how best to improve relations between Islam and the West.
The two are currently locked in a “clash of perceptions, not civilisations,” writes Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, who heads the U.S.-based Cordoba Initiative, which helped arrange the two-day conference.
So far, attendees appear to have been treated to a wide range of viewpoints.
In a welcome development, Barclays have severed its business ties with two Iranian banks who held offices in the UK.
The banks in question, Melli and Saderat, have been accused by the US of having links to the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and financing terrorism respectively.
When most of us hear the words "bank holiday", simple things like lie-ins and trips to the seaside most readily come to mind.
Not so for Daniel Kawczynski. The Conservative MP, whose family immigrated from Poland, has introduced a bill proposing a new bank holiday honouring Poles’ contribution to modern Britain, from WWII pilots to the hundreds of thousands of Polish workers in Britain today.
The snag? Poles aren’t going for it.
The man said to be the leader of the alleged plot to plot up trans-Atlantic airliners has admitted planning to set off bombs in Heathrow airport - although he said that the explosions were intended to cause "disruption" rather than to kill.
When the airliner plotters were arrested in August 2006, Azzam al-Tamimi from the Muslim Association of Britain, the Muslim Brotherhood's British wing, described the arrests as a "hoax". Writing in The Guardian, he said that "I have a feeling that all the Muslims detained in connection with the recent police operation to foil and alleged plot are innocent and will soon be proven so."
This year’s annual Hay-on-Wye Festival has just ended. In his column in last week’s Sunday Times, Jeremy Clarkson wrote this about the annual twelve-day jamboree:
‘You might imagine that Hay is a lovely day out for all the family, a chance for children to meet all the authors they love… Of course, it’s no such thing. Mainly it’s a chance for ramblers and hippies to gather in a field and convince themselves everyone thinks the same way that they do.’
I spent the last three days at a conference on 'Post-Christian Europe and Resurgent Islam' in Vienna. Other conference attendees included former President Aznar of Spain, Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali and Marcello Pera, former head of the Italian Senate.
For those who are interested, many of the cogitations of the last three days have been nicely summed-up by Bruce Anderson in today's Independent and can be read here.
