A New Call for Jihad in Denmark

Sheikh Omar Bakri Mohammed is a notorious Islamic radical who now lives in Lebanon. He was born in Syria in 1958 and later moved to Britain, where he became an Islamic zealot. He worked tirelessly to strengthen the radical group Hizb ut-Tahrir, and founded the now-banned organization Al-Muhajiroun, to which several of the 7/7 bombers belonged. He is the mentor and close associate of the Ilford firebrand Anjem Choudary.

Sheikh Omar fled Britain in 2004 to escape prosecution, and has lived in Lebanon ever since.

Young “Danish” radicals now find great inspiration in the words of Omar Bakri, which are broadcast live to them at their rallies in Copenhagen. During the same rallies they call openly for violent jihad against Denmark and the rest of Europe.

Below is an investigative report from TV2 about Omar Bakri’s influence on Danish “youths”. Many thanks to Henrik Ræder Clausen for the translation, and to Vlad Tepes for the subtitling:

Transcript:

00:02		And now for Nyhederne, with Cecilie Bæk
00:08		“Democracy in Hell — Democracy in Hell!”
00:11		Danish Islamists in the heart of Copenhagen,
00:13		where they listen to their teacher Omar Bakri.
00:15		He tells them to fight democracy
00:18		by means of kidnapping, violence and murder. (“Allah-hu-Akhbar”)
00:26		Welcome to Nyhederne Sunday evening, where we can reveal
00:29		how a radical Islamic preacher communicates directly with young Danes,
00:33		where among others he tells that kidnapping and murder
00:36		are required methods in the fight for the prophet Muhammad.
00:40		TV2 Nyhederne has over the recent months been following
00:42		the contact between Danish Islamists and their teacher,
00:45		and tonight we can provide a rare insight into their communication.
00:50		Allah-hu-Akhbar — Allah-hu-Akhbar
00:53		Kongens Nytorv in central Copenhagen, a day in September. Young Muslims are holding Friday prayer.
00:58		Allah-hu-Akhbar
01:00		But the action today is not merely about praying to Allah,
01:03		“Democracy in Hell — Democracy in Hell!”
01:07		it is about demonstrating their anger over the insults
01:09		of the prophet Muhammad in a French satirical magazine.
01:13		“Allah-hu-Akhbar. Al-Jihad — Al-Jihad — Al-Jihad — Al-Jihad!”
01:16		These young men are Salafists, ultra-conservative Muslims,
01:21		who wish to counter democracy and Western culture.
01:24		“That Islam will dominate the world, although the infidels hate it”.
01:28		“Obama, Obama, we love Osama!”
01:31		And on this day on Kongens Nytorv, Copenhagen, they make no secret of
01:34		their support for Osama bin Laden and his methods.
01:38		“Obama, Obama, we love Osama!”
01:41		The young men call up an influential preacher in Lebanon,
01:45		“This is my message to you:”
01:48		They are calling this man, Omar Bakri.
01:51		“Islam is the truth”
01:52		He is known for praising Al-Qaeda,
01:54		and has called the September 11th hijackers “The Glorious 19”.
01:58		“And the triumph of the Islamic state is going to rise up again”
02:02		and there is going to be a truth and reality even in Europe.”
02:06		So on this day Omar Bakri holds a speech in Kongens Nytorv in Copenhagen
02:11		through a telephone connection, and communicates his message in public.
02:17		He tells the young Danish Islamists, that one must kill those who insult the prophet Muhammad.
02:23		“Whoever insults our messenger, whoever insults the messenger shall be killed.
02:30		I call upon Muslims wherever you are:
02:34		If they declare war against Islam, let us declare Islam against them.”
02:40		“Denmark in Hell — Denmark in Hell Denmark in Hell — Denmark in Hell”
02:46		Researcher Kate has followed this Islamic group closely, and is surprised:
02:51		“This is really an escalation of what I have seen them do before.”
02:55		She considers the close connection to the Lebanese preacher worrisome,
03:00		and believes that radicalization has reached new heights.
03:03		“So, I have never before them express such threats directly,
03:08		nor incitement to violence and killing. For me this appears to be very new.
03:15		I am not particularly scared by them going around shouting ‘Jihad’,
03:17		but I do find it really worrisome that they directly say “Death to a cartoonist”.
03:25		In Kongens Nytorv in Copenhagen, Omar Bakri continues his speech.
03:28		“Those people who are making films,
03:31		and making pictures and photos and caricatures against our messenger.
03:36		Watch out! In Islam there is capital punishment for anybody
03:40		insulting the honour of our messenger.”
03:44		The Danish Islamists respond with a call to jihad, aimed at the West.
03:49		“Jihad! Jihad! Jihad! Jihad! Jihad! Jihad!”
03:52		Janni Pedersen, Omar Bakri, the preacher we saw from Lebanon,
03:56		he not merely has contact to the young men we saw demonstrating,
03:59		he also has had contact to many other Danish Islamists.
04:03		Who was that?
04:05		(Silence)
04:12		And there is no sound connection to Janni Pedersen,
04:15		so I believe we will proceed to the next item, which is on the same topic.
04:19		Namely that the contact we saw here between Omar Bakri and the young men,
04:24		this is also taking place over the Internet.
04:27		Here he has been in contact with a wide range of Danes.
04:31		We have watched it.
04:33		“Sharia for Denmark — Sharia for Denmark!”
04:36		We know that the young Muslims from the demonstration are member of a group
04:39		called “The Call to Islam”. But who are they, and who do they work with?
04:45		“This is Abu Asadullah”
04:46		We called the spokesman of the group, who calls himself Abu Asadullah,
04:50		he describes the purpose of the group to be this:
04:53		“To defend Islam and protect the Muslims. Protect the honour of the prophet.”
04:57		We would like to ask about the connection to the controversial preacher Omar Bakri.
05:01		“Start to fight the enemy of Allah!”
05:03		But Abu Asadullah repeatedly rejects to give an interview.
05:07		“There is no time for it. It is not something that can be done here and now.”
05:11		Abu Asadullah does tell, though, that he receives teaching from Omar Bakri.
05:16		This takes place on the Internet. We can see his name appear on PalTalk,
05:20		a chat forum where we have created a false profile.
05:26		Here Omar Bakri shares his teachings every evening with those wanting to listen.
05:31		“The punishment of those who declare war against Allah,
05:34		and his messenger, and do mischief on the earth,
05:37		is to be killed, or to be crucified,
05:40		or to have hands and legs to be cut from opposite directions.” [Sura 5:33]
05:44		Those are messages that are heard, also in Denmark.
05:48		“Opposite hands and opposite legs. Or to be deported from the Earth.”
05:52		Some of the frequent listeners are Abu Asadullah,
05:56		and Abu Musa, leader of the Danish group “The Call to Islam”.
06:03		We have been listening in for more than a month.
06:05		Here from November 6th, where Bakri condemns the infidels believing in democracy.
06:10		“We should not even bother to listen to them.
06:13		Because their own stink really will make you completely disgusted.”
06:21		On another evening the names of the Danes again appear on the listeners’ list.
06:25		And Bakri suggests to kidnap people in the West,
06:28		that one becomes able to negotiate release of Muslims imprisoned for terrorism.
06:32		“Whenever they take one, we should take 10 of them,
06:35		and put them somewhere, and negotiate the release.
06:40		That is the Islamic way to deal with this problem
06:45		of keeping arresting our cousins.
06:49		In order to learn more about Omar Bakri we go to London,
06:52		to visit someone who knows him well.
06:56		“London probably had all of this before Denmark did.”
06:59		Maajid Nawaz was part of the inner circle of Bakri when he lived in London.
07:05		Nawaz quit when in 2002 he ended up in jail.
07:09		Today he is the leader of an anti-radicalization think tank.
07:12		“Bakri played a pivotal role in the radicalization, that lead to terrorism in the UK.
07:17		Nawas tells us that Bakri used to be very active in mosques and schools.
07:22		“He attended our college and gave a speech to the students,
07:25		and sadly, one week later, one of our own supporters
07:28		murdered a non-Muslim student on that campus
07:30		by plunging a machete through his heart.”
07:32		“May peace and blessings be upon his messenger Muhammad...”
07:36		One source of inspiration for Bakri is the late Al-Qaeda leader Anwar al-Awlaki,
07:40		who was killed in a drone attack. Before he died, he pointed out Denmark
07:45		as one of the most obvious terrorist targets in the world.
07:48		“After that we come to know about Anwar al-Awlaki...”
07:51		On November 10th, Bakri praises the Al-Qaeda leader in the chat room
07:55		“He started to give speeches and talks.
07:58		And he became a Mujahedeen,
07:59		and we praise him because of the Jihad.”
08:02		In London Nawas explains that the radicalization is ongoing,
08:06		in spite of Bakri no longer being present in England.
08:09		“He’s now banned from the UK, but he is still able to
08:12		address European Muslims over modern technology,
08:17		such as teleconferences, Internet and phone conferences.
08:19		And so he is still able to spread his ideas.”
08:22		“A kill, an assassination ...”
08:24		The ideas are being spread, for instance on November 8th,
08:28		where a student of Bakri enters the chat
08:30		to demonstrate that he has understood the message.
08:33		“We make the kuffar terrified from Islam.
08:35		Allah gave me victory by the fear and the terror and the horror.
08:40		They go insane out of fear for the Muslims.”
08:42		This is how it goes on, every evening around midnight.
08:45		Radicalization on the Internet, anno 2012.
08:49		And this contact, that we saw Omar Bakri have
08:52		with young Danes and other here on the Internet,
08:54		this contact he used to have with other young men.
08:56		And now your sound connection should be working, Janni Pedersen,
08:58		that you can tell us who he used to have contact to here in Denmark.
09:03		We have to look back to 2004, where 12 young fundamentalists, Islamists,
09:07		went to London in order to listen to Omar Bakri.
09:10		They were exceptionally well received, there were a thousand Muslims
09:13		Islamists — at the gathering, but the Danes were given private housing,
09:17		they had private sessions and dinners with Omar Bakri.
09:21		And particular remarkable is that several of those, who were in London back in 2004,
09:26		when they returned, they were investigated by the Danish intelligence PET,
09:29		and that lead to prosecutions, as well as convictions,
09:32		for acts of terrorism, for planning to commit terrorism.
09:35		Thus one can say, all else being equal, that the grip he has on young men
09:39		that has certainly led to some of them
09:41		feeling empowered to plan terrorist attacks.
09:45		Many experts consider Bakri a direct reason for young people to become so radicalized,
09:51		that they are able to plan and execute actual terrorist acts.
09:55		The Danish intelligence PET did not want to comment on the material we have shown.
09:59		If you are interested in learning more of the Danish network of radical preacher Omar Bakri,
10:03		you will find it mapped out on our home page tv2.dk.
10:08		And this series about Danish Islamists
10:11		and their Lebanese connections will continue on TV 2 Nyhederne the coming days.