An evil man we must ban
By James Slack, Home Affairs Correspondent
Daily Express, 7 July 2004
THE visit to Britain by a hate-filled Muslim cleric who supports wife beating and suicide bomb attacks by children should be banned, the Government was urged last night.
Extremist Yusuf Al-Qaradawi, who has defended the beheading of a Western hostage in Iraq, is already barred from visiting America. But Foreign Secretary Jack Straw has issued the Egyptian with a visa to speak at a London conference for Muslim women next Monday.
Labour MP Louise Ellman called for the trip to be blocked. She pointed to alleged links between Dr Al-Qaradawi, who is the spiritual leader of the Egyptian terror group The Muslim Brotherhood, and Hamas. She said:
“It is outrageous that at a time of heightened security concerns and when the Government is clamping down on terror, somebody with close links to Hamas who has already been outlawed in the US is permitted to come to this country. He may well make inflammatory speeches inciting hatred. It will create enormous security problems at a very sensitive time.”
Dr Al-Qaradawi is based in Qatar but was born in Egypt – the same country as hook-handed cleric Abu Hamza. Al-Qaradawi insists Israeli civilians are legitimate targets for Palestinian attacks and has even encouraged women and children to become suicide bombers.