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“July 7 preacher Abdullah El-Faisal deported”

By Philip Johnston, Home Affairs Editor
Last Updated: 6:32pm BST 25/05/2007

ARTICLE SNIPPET: “An Islamic cleric believed to have influenced one of the July 7 bombers was deported to his native Jamaica today after serving four years in jail for inciting racial hatred.

On his way home: Abdullah El-Faisal
Abdullah El-Faisal was convicted in 2003 of soliciting murder and causing racial hatred.

Police at the time did not know how many young, impressionable Muslim men he might have turned towards terrorism.

But the Government’s official account of the July 7 suicide bombs identified El-Faisal as a mentor of Jermaine Lindsay, who detonated a bomb on a Tube train near King’s Cross, killing 25 passengers.

Lindsay, also from Jamaica and also a convert to Islam, attended at least one lecture by El-Faisal and listened to tapes of his sermons. During the preacher’s trial, he was heard telling audiences to kill Hindus, Jews and other non-Muslims like “cockroaches”.

John Reid, the Home Secretary, said: “We are committed to protecting the public and have made it clear that foreign nationals who abuse our hospitality and break our laws can expect to be deported after they have served a prison sentence.

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

El-Faisal, 43, was sentenced to seven years after becoming the first person for a century to be prosecuted under the 1860 Public Order Act.

He was released just beyond the half-way point of his sentence with the agreement of the Parole Board.”