Jamaican cleric inspired Times Square bomber
Linked to UK deportee Sheikh Abdullah al-Faisal
JamaicaObserver.com
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
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FAISAL Shazad the Pakistani-American man accused of attempting the failed Times Square bombing has told United States authorities that he was inspired to act by Jamaican Muslim cleric Sheikh Abdullah al-Faisal and Anwar al-Awlaki — an American-born imam who has been linked to an al-Qaida group in Yemen.
National Public Radio reported that Shahzad, who made his first court appearance yesterday faces five felony charges. He was arrested on May 3 in New York while trying to leave the country by plane.
An undated file photo from the social networking site Orkut.com, shows a man who was identified by neighbors in Connecticut as Faisal Shahzad. (AP Photo/Orkut.com)
President Barack Obama listens to a briefing by New York City police officers last week. NYC Police Commissioner Ray Kelly stands at left. Times Square car-bomb suspect Faisal Shahzad is shown on screen. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
Jamaican-born Muslim cleric Abdullah al-Faisal on arrival at the Norman Manley International Airport in Kingston on May 25, 2007. Al-Faisal was deported from the United Kingdom after serving a seven-year prison term for soliciting murder and stirring up racial hatred. (Photo: Garfield Robinson)
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An undated file photo from the social networking site Orkut.com, shows a man who was identified by neighbors in Connecticut as Faisal Shahzad. (AP Photo/Orkut.com)
Al Faisal has been linked to two of the men who blew up trains in Britain in 2005. He was a mentor to a Jamaican convert, Germaine Lindsay, who died in that 2005 suicide bombing. He has also been linked to a terrorism training camp in Oregon, USA several years ago.
He was an imam at the Brixton Mosque in London when Richard Reid, the shoe bomber — also of Jamaican parentage — worshipped there. Zacharias Moussaoui, the 20th hijacker in the September 11 attacks, was also a follower of his.
Al Faisal was sentenced to prison in the United Kingdom for calling for the killing of Jews, Americans and Hindus in one of his CD lectures. After serving more than four years, he was deported to Jamaica.
Last year he slipped out of the country and ended up in Africa and was deported back here from Kenya earlier this year for allegedly trying to recruit people there for violent Jihad.
He has been placed on an international terrorist watch list as counter-terrorism operatives say his is a powerful voice in the violent Jihadi movement who seem to inspire Muslims to violence.
Jamaican police say they have been keeping a close watch on the activities of the controversial Muslim cleric, who is banned from preaching here.
Linked to UK deportee Sheikh Abdullah al-Faisal
JamaicaObserver.com
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
var addthis_pub="jamaicaobserver";
FAISAL Shazad the Pakistani-American man accused of attempting the failed Times Square bombing has told United States authorities that he was inspired to act by Jamaican Muslim cleric Sheikh Abdullah al-Faisal and Anwar al-Awlaki — an American-born imam who has been linked to an al-Qaida group in Yemen.
National Public Radio reported that Shahzad, who made his first court appearance yesterday faces five felony charges. He was arrested on May 3 in New York while trying to leave the country by plane.
An undated file photo from the social networking site Orkut.com, shows a man who was identified by neighbors in Connecticut as Faisal Shahzad. (AP Photo/Orkut.com)
President Barack Obama listens to a briefing by New York City police officers last week. NYC Police Commissioner Ray Kelly stands at left. Times Square car-bomb suspect Faisal Shahzad is shown on screen. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
Jamaican-born Muslim cleric Abdullah al-Faisal on arrival at the Norman Manley International Airport in Kingston on May 25, 2007. Al-Faisal was deported from the United Kingdom after serving a seven-year prison term for soliciting murder and stirring up racial hatred. (Photo: Garfield Robinson)
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An undated file photo from the social networking site Orkut.com, shows a man who was identified by neighbors in Connecticut as Faisal Shahzad. (AP Photo/Orkut.com)
Al Faisal has been linked to two of the men who blew up trains in Britain in 2005. He was a mentor to a Jamaican convert, Germaine Lindsay, who died in that 2005 suicide bombing. He has also been linked to a terrorism training camp in Oregon, USA several years ago.
He was an imam at the Brixton Mosque in London when Richard Reid, the shoe bomber — also of Jamaican parentage — worshipped there. Zacharias Moussaoui, the 20th hijacker in the September 11 attacks, was also a follower of his.
Al Faisal was sentenced to prison in the United Kingdom for calling for the killing of Jews, Americans and Hindus in one of his CD lectures. After serving more than four years, he was deported to Jamaica.
Last year he slipped out of the country and ended up in Africa and was deported back here from Kenya earlier this year for allegedly trying to recruit people there for violent Jihad.
He has been placed on an international terrorist watch list as counter-terrorism operatives say his is a powerful voice in the violent Jihadi movement who seem to inspire Muslims to violence.
Jamaican police say they have been keeping a close watch on the activities of the controversial Muslim cleric, who is banned from preaching here.
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