By Gary Jones, Chief Reporter Kanchan Dutt And Don Mackay
MUSLIM leader Sheikh Abu Hamza has told young British Supporters that murder, bank robbery and looting are legitimate weapons against the enemies of Islam.
BATTLE CRY: Sheikh Hamza speaking at a Trafalgar Square rally
Secret tapes obtained by the Daily Mirror show how the one-eyed cleric has urged violence at recruitment meetings across Britain - and warned that the infidel should be kept on the run.
Hamza, 44, appearing at an Islamic rally in London yesterday, denied telling followers that it was all right to kill w esterners living and working in foreign lands.
But on one of the six video tapes made at private meetings around the country the fanatic tells impressionable young supporters: "What are they doing there anyway? Most of them are spies.
"Even if they don't do anything - if Muslims cannot take them and sell them in the market - kill them, it's OK."
DANGEROUS TALK: Hamza in a clip from the secret videos obtained by The Mirror
Egyptian-born Hamza, who lost an eye and had both arms blown off by a landmine during the Afghan war against the Russians, is leader of the Supporters of Shariah movement based at the mosque in Finsbury Park, North London.
He has denied recruiting British Muslims into the al-Qaeda terrorist network and claims inflammatory statements attributed to him are fabricated.
But at meetings behind closed doors, he urges followers to take up arms against the infidel.
"We have to push our children to the front line," he said. "Everybody wants his son to be killed like a lion."
Hamza said anyone standing in the way of his Islam would spend their life in fear.
HE warned: "They should always be worried. They should always be on the run. They should always feel insecure."
At a mosque in Birmingham, the sheikh issued another call to arms.
He said: "Why should there be a battle? Why should there be an argument?
"But a struggle means sometimes arguing to convey the message. Even if it means you convey the message by carrying a sword.
"Allah wants to know who will sacrifice for him."
During a question and answer session, Hamza said banks were a Jewish establishment, the work of Satan.
Robbing them and kafirs, or unbelievers, could be acceptable because they were not protected by Allah. He said: "I say go and do it (steal), take shoot and loot.
"Every battle has its purpose. Ours is to put the authority of Allah and humiliate kafir who are challenging the authority of Allah and Muslims.
"Sometimes you will feel too weak to go on, but you say 'I still have some strength to humiliate and kill and remove some of the germs who are making me weak so that people who come after me can carry on with weaker enemies'."
Hamza also backed burglary and theft from non-believers. He said: "I can't see any problem giving yourself a free hand - getting yourself a new car.
"Go for their houses where you can loot and come back. It is like going to the forest and picking up wood from no man's land."
On one video Hamza says it is legitimate to wage war against targets such as the American embassies in Dar es Salaam and Nairobi which were attacked by al-Qaeda in 1998.
The sheikh is also heard giving advice to those joining a jihad, or holy war. He said: "Allah made the contract that a certain kind of believer will fight in the cause of Allah ... they will kill in the cause of Allah.
"Jihad is their fight and it is also an obligation. But some people call this terrorism."
"Jihad is the only way to protect believers. Jihad comes first.
"I do not want you to say 'I believe in one God'. No, no. I want you to make trouble for kafirs.
"Before you can say I believe in you God I want you to put everybody's god in the dustbin.
"And so you insult kafir...you say there is no god except the creator Allah. You start the trouble.
"Allah will never ever allow the kafir to be pleased with you. He created them and he moulded them to be your enemy.
"Jihad is moving up and proving yourself. It is something for you to look for. Go and look for it." The sheikh has been linked to alleged shoe bomber Richard Reid - awaiting trial in America - Zacarias Moussaoui, the so-called 20th hijacker on September 11 who is on remand in the US, and Feroz Abbasi, from Croydon, South London, who is among the prisoners at Camp X-Ray in Cuba.
Hamza is wanted by America and the Yemen.
Questions are now being asked over why he has not been dealt with under the Terrorism Act 2000 outlawing support for radical Islamic groups and making it a criminal offence to raise funds.
The only time Hamza has been detained was in 1999 when he was questioned by Scotland Yard detectives on suspicion of terrorism offences. He was held for several days and released without charge.
Andrew Dismore, Labour MP for Hendon, North London, has spoken out since September 11 on Hamza's suspected links with terrorists and alleged anti-American comments. He said the videos were "one more argument that it is about time action was taken against Hamza".
The MP added: "I believe he has committed incitement to violence and I find it very difficult to understand why he has not been subject to prosecution.""
A SPOKESWOMAN for the Home Office said she could not comment on the Hamza case, but added: "We are monitoring a number of individuals and organisations.
"The Home Secretary has powers to deport someone who represents a danger to the public good.""
The spokeswoman said someone seen to be inciting the public could warrant a Government investigation.
She added: "If it was seen as a threat, for example, to national security that could be a reason to deport somebody." Scotland Yard said it would be keen to study the tapes to see whether the cleric had broken the law.
At yesterday's rally in Trafalgar Square, Hamza refused to condemn terrorist atrocities against the West and said he backed a jihad: "We support a nice clean war.
"We don't know any war other than a holy war. We are not going to spill blood unnecessarily."
Hamza even claimed New York's Twin Towers collapsed from inside because of "an America-Zionist plot to blame the Muslim world".
He said: "There is no way these buildings could collapse in that manner after three hours.
"Al-Qaeda may have ambitions to do that, but I don't believe they did.
"I'm a trained civil engineer and I know from what I have seen those buildings collapsed from the inside."
The sheikh denied ever urging young Muslims to kill westerners. "I haven't said that," he said. "It is a crude statement. If you leave us alone, we will leave you alone."
Four people were arrested during clashes between rally supporters and far-right demonstrators. Two speakers were also arrested.
Two British National Party supporters were bundled to the ground by police and handcuffed before being led off for public order and breach of the peace offences as a banner proclaiming "Bin Laden is a murderer" was unfurled.
Police, fearing more violence, ordered the rally's blaring speakers turned off.
Sheikh Omar Bakri Mohammed, who has called on Muslims to fight the "evil forces" behind attacks on Osama bin Laden, said: "We are moving towards dangerous times. We can only expect worse."
He denied inciting racial hatred but said any attacks against Iraq would bring retaliation.
