London bomber preacher deported

Published on Saturday 26 May 2007 00:44

A RADICAL Muslim preacher who influenced one of the 7 July bombers was deported from Britain yesterday.

Abdullah el-Faisal, 43, left the country after reaching the parole date set on his seven-year jail sentence.

He was found guilty at the Old Bailey in 2003 of three charges of soliciting murder and three charges of stirring up racial hatred.

Faisal told young British Muslims it was their duty to kill non-believers, Jews, Hindus and westerners, urging them to adopt a "Jihad mentality".

He promised schoolboys that they would be rewarded with "72 virgins in paradise" if they died in a holy war.

The Jamaican convert to Islam was placed on a flight to King-ston just after midday.

The government's official account of the 2005 London bombings said the firebrand cleric had a strong influence on Germaine Lindsay, who blew up a Tube train at King's Cross, killing 26 people.

John Reid, the Home Secretary, said: "I am pleased Abdullah el-Faisal has been removed and excluded from the UK.

"We will not tolerate those who seek to spread hate and fear in our communities."

During the preacher's trial,

the jury saw a video of Faisal after the 11 September attacks in the US, telling up to 150 young Muslims that the Koran justified attacking "kaffirs", or unbelievers.

"When there is a legitimate target, you strike at it," he said. "If women and children die, they become collateral damage."

• Last night Syed Hashmi, 27, was extradited to the US, where he is accused of acting as an al-Qaeda "quartermaster".

Born in Pakistan, he came to the UK in 2003 and was held at Heathrow in 2006, accused of supplying military equipment to cells in Pakistan and Afghanistan. He lost his fight against extradition at the High Court in London on 20 March.