BBC: Biochemist has 'no al-Qaeda link' ~~ say the Egyptian authorities

BBC ^ | Saturday, 16 July, 2005, 13:34 GMT 14:34 UK | staff

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Biochemist has 'no al-Qaeda link'

British police are searching a house in Leeds linked to Mr al-Nashar

An Egyptian biochemist held for questioning over the London bomb attacks has no links to al-Qaeda, Egypt's interior minister has said.

Habib al-Adli told Egyptian newspaper Al-Jumhuriyah media speculation about Magdi Mahmoud al-Nashar was groundless.

He also denied agents of the British security services had participated in Mr al-Nashar's interrogation in Cairo.

Unofficial sources in Cairo and London say British agents are observing the 33-year-old's ongoing interrogation.

The Egyptians are doing everything possible to cooperate, the sources say.

Mr al-Adli told Al-Jumhuriyah that reports elsewhere in the British and Arab media linking Mr al-Nashar to al-Qaeda were "groundless" and based on a hasty conclusion.

Interior Minister Habib al-Adli has said that 33-year old Egyptian Chemist Dr Magdi al-Nashar, who has been arrested recently by the security forces, has no connection with the terrorist al-Qaeda organisation Al-Jumhuriyah Egyptian press jolted by biochemist's arrest

The ministry on Friday released an extract from the interrogation in which Mr al-Nashar denied having any role in the attacks.

He had told investigators he was on holiday, all his belongings remained in the UK and he planned to return there, the ministry said in a statement.

British police are searching a house in Leeds linked to Mr al-Nashar.

They have turned their attention to finding those who may have helped the bombers carry out last Thursday's attacks - in which 55 people died, including three bombers.

They know three of the bombers were from West Yorkshire - Hussain, 18, of Holbeck, Leeds; Shehzad Tanweer, 22, of Beeston, Leeds, and Mohammad Sidique Khan, 30, of Dewsbury - and are searching their homes.

They are also searching the home of the man they believe is the fourth bomber, Lindsey Germaine, a Jamaican-born man who lived in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire.

Meanwhile Britain's top Muslims have branded the London suicide bombings "utterly criminal, totally reprehensible, and absolutely un-Islamic".

A joint statement of condemnation came as 22 leaders and scholars met at the Islamic Cultural Centre, in London.

HAVE YOUR SAY Mutual respect between religions is the way forward, which can only be ascertained by allaying fears and listening to the concerns of local people Eddie Espie, Cookstown Send us your comments

Muslim leaders said there could never be any excuse for taking an innocent life, it said.

The statement said everyone must confront the problems of Islamophobia, racism, unemployment, economic depravation and social exclusion.

Of the Muslim stance on suicide bombing, the leaders said: "There can never be any excuse for taking an innocent life.

"The Koran clearly declares that killing an innocent person was tantamount to killing all mankind and likewise saving a single life was as if one had saved the life of all mankind.

Those who carried out the bombing, the statement said, "should in no sense be regarded as martyrs".

Both Muslims and non-Muslims should help bring the people behind the bombing to justice, it said.

We are devastated our son may have been brainwashed into carrying out such an atrocity Mohammad Sidique Khan's Family says bomber 'brainwashed'

"The pursuit of justice for the victims of last week's attacks is an obligation under the faith of Islam."

But Britain's highest ranking Asian police officer, Tarique Ghaffur, says Muslims and their leaders must do more than just condemn the bombings.

In his only interview on the attacks, Mr Ghaffur, the Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner, urged Muslims and their leaders to inform on potential terrorists and their supporters.

The police would protect informers, using the lessons learned from tackling serious and organised crime, the head of the Met's serious crimes directorate added.

They would have to engage better with minorities - but the minorities would have to take the first step, he said.

An air of radicalism had been building up among a minority of Muslims, Mr Ghaffur added.

In other developments:

• Mohammad Sidique Khan's family say they believe the Circle Line bomber could have been "brainwashed" by terrorists.

• The family of 18-year-old London bomber Hasib Mir Hussain said they were "devastated" at his involvement.

• Forty-one bomb victims have been identified and 31 named.

• The government plans new criminal offences of providing or receiving training in the use of hazardous substances; of acts preparatory to terrorism; and of inciting terrorism indirectly, Home Office minister Hazel Blears said.

• It emerged bomber Mohammad Sadique Khan, a teacher, met MPs Hilary Benn and Jon Trickett during his school's trip to the Palace of Westminster in July 2004.

[stboz]

NO Al Quida connection? Shazzam!

How are we to be able to explain his actions, then?,

COULD IT BE THAT THE LAD IS A MUSLIM ACTING ON THE TENETS OF HIS FAITH?

[Stellar Dendrite]

The lie machine known as the BBC strikes again, a propagandist for our enemies.

[GSlob]

Well, I would have more faith in such statements if they were issued after much longer investigation, carried out at higher pain levels.

[Dark Skies]

He had a connection to Al Queda through Allah.

But I am glad I read this article because I came across this little nugget off to the side...

Mutual respect between religions is the way forward, which can only be ascertained by allaying fears and listening to the concerns of local people...

"Respect," to repeat that tattered old saw, "is something that must be earned." Islam has destroyed any chance of ever getting any respect from the civilized world.

[lilylangtree]

"The Egyptians are doing everything possible to cooperate, the sources say."

In a pig's eye!

[umgud]

Dang......you beat me in posting my exact thoughts.

[rj45mis]

The lie machine known as the BBC strikes again, a propagandist for our enemies.

Agree! When the hell are responsible citizens going to take these propaganda machines to task for their criminalist agenda!

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

From Voice of America:

*******************************************************

Egyptian Authorities Question London Bombing Suspect

By Ursula Lindsey Cairo 16 July 2005

Lindsey report - Download 269k
Listen to Lindsey report

Egyptian authorities continue to question a chemistry student detained in connection with the London bombings, but say they found no links between him and al-Qaida.   Magdy El-Nashar was linked by British police to an apartment, in which, they say bombs used in last week's attacks were made. He was arrested in Cairo on Thursday afternoon as he left his neighborhood mosque.

The family and friends of Magdy El Nashar, 35, continue to proclaim his innocence.  El Nashar himself, according to an official statement, told interrogators he had nothing to do with the bombings and that he has left all his belongings in his apartment in Leeds, intending to return after his vacation in Cairo.  The Egyptian National Research Center, which has sponsored El Nashar's studies so far, issued a statement saying he had just been awarded a grant to continue his research in England.

The Egyptian Minister of Interior told the Gomhorreya newspaper Saturday there was no connection between El Nashar and the terrorist group Al Qaida.

General Hossam Soweillem, the former director of the Strategic Center for Armed Forces, says the Egyptian authorities are proceeding cautiously because they have no conclusive proof that El Nashar was involved in the London attacks.

"We have no information regarding his involvement in terrorist action or in the London accidents," he said.  "But it depends on what sort of information, what credibility of information, they have in Scotland Yard regarding El Nashar. When they come to Egypt and give us this information, talk with our security authorities, I think many facts will be disclosed."

British intelligence officials are expected in Cairo soon and may meet and question El Nashar before deciding whether to ask for his extradition.

El Nashar received a bachelor's and master's degree in Chemistry from Cairo University and in 2000 went to England to pursue his doctorate studies at Leeds University. He also studied for one semester at North Carolina State University in the United States.
 
At the low-income apartment building in Cairo where he has been staying with his family for the last few weeks, neighbors and friends described him as a quiet, studious young man. They said he had never shown signs of religious extremism.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

From the Las Vegas Sun:

***********************************************************************

Today: July 16, 2005 at 13:22:42 PDT

Egypt Not Ready to Extradite Biochemist

By BRIAN MURPHY and SCHEHEREZADE FARAMARZI
ASSOCIATED PRESS

LEEDS, England (AP) -

0716blair-bombings Police in Egypt questioned a biochemist about the bombings in London, but Egyptian security officials said they were not prepared to hand him over to British investigators after authorities in this northern town reportedly found traces of explosives in his bathtub.

In another sign of the investigation's widening global reach, Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair said authorities were trying to determine whether any of the four "foot soldiers" - the suicide bombers who ranged in age from 18 to 30 - had ties with Pakistan-based cells of the al-Qaida terror network.

In an interview with British Broadcasting Corp. radio, Blair said the inquiry was focusing on the organizers of the attacks, and he confirmed that police were most interested in the Pakistan connection. The July 7 bombings of three subway trains and a bus killed 55 people, including the bombers. Police increased the death toll from 54 after another victim died in the hospital overnight.

In London, police moved the twisted wreckage of the double-decker bus that became a symbol of the capital's worst attack since World War II. Passers-by stopped to watch as a flatbed truck with a police escort hauled it away to a secure location for more forensics tests.

Three of the bombers - Shahzad Tanweer, Mohammed Sidique Khan and Hasid Hussain - were Britons of Pakistani origin. At least two had traveled to Pakistan.

Prime Minister Tony Blair said Saturday that authorities were facing an "evil ideology" in their struggle against Islamic terrorism.

"The greatest danger is that we fail to face up to the nature of the threat that we're dealing with," he said during a speech in London. "And what we are confronting here is an evil ideology. ... It is a battle of ideas, of hearts and of minds, both within Islam and outside it."

He also insisted there was no link between Islamic terrorism and the situation in Iraq, where Britain is the second-largest partner in the U.S.-led coalition, or the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.

Britain's Labour Party, meanwhile, confirmed media reoports Saturday that Khan, 30, visited the Houses of Parliament last year as the guest of Labour lawmaker Jon Trickett. It said Trickett alerted security officials when he realized Khan was one of the bombers.

Two senior Pakistani intelligence officials said Friday that authorities there were looking into a possible connection between Tanweer and two al-Qaida-linked militant groups, and in particular a man arrested for a 2002 attack on a church near the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad.

On Saturday, intelligence and school officials said Pakistani authorities questioned several students, teachers and administrators at one of two religious schools - or madrassas - believed visited by Tanweer.

Asad Farooq, a spokesman for the Jamia Manzoorul Islam seminary in central Lahore, acknowledged in an interview that intelligence agents were there Saturday, but he denied that Tanweer had ever been at the school.

British police on Saturday continued searching a shop called Iqra Learning Centre in the Leeds neighborhood of Beeston. The shop, which officers raided Friday, appeared to sell Islamic books and DVDs and offer seminars and presentations.

Two investigators wearing white protective suits were seen inside the store before officers covered the windows with gray plastic sheeting. The immediate area remained cordoned off.

The shop is about four miles from Egyptian chemist Magdy Mahmoud Mustafa el-Nashar's town house, where British news media reported that police found evidence of the explosive TATP inside a bathtub. Police continued searching the house Saturday from behind large black and white sheets draped from scaffolding.

TATP was used by Richard Reid, whose attempt to blow up a trans-Atlantic flight from Paris to Miami in December 2001 with explosives in his shoes was thwarted. Reid pleaded guilty to U.S. charges and is serving life in prison.

Egypt's Interior Ministry announced Friday that Egyptian authorities were interrogating el-Nashar, who had studied for one semester at North Carolina State University and taught at Leeds University, where he earned his doctorate in May. It said el-Nashar denied having any connection to the attacks.

An Egyptian government official said el-Nashar, 33, was arrested in Cairo on Sunday or Monday after British officials informed Egypt of their interest in him. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was giving information not in the formal ministry announcement.

But el-Nashar's youngest brother, Mohammed, said he was arrested Thursday when he went to a local mosque to pray but didn't return.

In London, Ian Blair said British authorities would seek his extradition, if need be, although the two countries do not have an extradition treaty.

But Egyptian security officials said Saturday that Cairo was not prepared to hand him over as British investigators arrived to sit in on the questioning. Egypt and Britain do not have an extradition treaty.

The Egyptian Interior Minister said el-Nashar came to Egypt from London on vacation and intended to return to Britain.

"He pointed out (to questioners) that all his belongings remained in his apartment in Britain," the ministry said.

In Leeds, authorities searched el-Nashar's townhouse in a complex of two-story brown brick apartments. The home was surrounded by blue-and-white police tape and forensic teams in white coveralls carted out material.

TATP, or triacetone triperoxide, is a highly unstable explosive made from commercially available chemicals.

Andy Oppenheimer, an explosives expert with Jane's Information Group, said TATP is strong enough to have caused the damage wreaked by last week's bombs. But he said making such a highly volatile explosive stable enough to carry out closely synchronized attacks would have required advanced knowledge of chemistry. Police say the three subway blasts happened within a minute.

El-Nashar's research at Leeds focused on biocatalysis and enzyme immobilization, according to a biography of him at the university's Web site.

That kind of research "wouldn't have anything directly to do with explosives" or with biological weapons, said Constance Ann Schall, an associate professor at the Chemical Engineering Department at the University of Toledo in Ohio.

Meanwhile, the families of Khan and Hussain - the 18-year-old believed to have blown up the double-decker bus - issued statements saying they were devastated by the attack and had no idea he could have been involved.

Hussain's family said it was unaware of his activities and "would have done everything in our power to stop him" had it known.

Khan's family expressed "deepest and heartfelt sympathies" for the victims and insisted Khan must have been "brainwashed" to have been involved. The family called on people to "expose the terror networks which target and groom our sons to carry out such evils."

---

Associated Press reporters Paul Garwood in Cairo, Egypt, and Paul Haven in Islamabad, Pakistan, contributed to this report.

--

[Stellar Dendrite]

"Agree! When the hell are responsible citizens going to take these propaganda machines to task for their criminalist agenda!"

When the next terrorist attack happens......

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Mutual respect here I guess:

*****************************

From the AP story above.

****************************

Britain's Labour Party, meanwhile, confirmed media reoports Saturday that Khan, 30, visited the Houses of Parliament last year as the guest of Labour lawmaker Jon Trickett. It said Trickett alerted security officials when he realized Khan was one of the bombers.

*******************************************************

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Another item from the LV Sun:

**************************************

Today: July 16, 2005 at 14:47:15 PDT

Detained Biochemist Called Compassionate

By SCHEHEREZADE FARAMARZI
ASSOCIATED PRESS

LEEDS, England (AP) -

Worshippers at a mosque Saturday described the Egyptian biochemist detained in Cairo in connection with the London suicide bombings as a compassionate man incapable of harming anyone.

The Grand Mosque where Magdy Mahmoud Mustafa el-Nashar prayed is across the street from the apartment building where he lived until a week before the July 7 attacks.

Police maintained a cordon of blue and white tape around the brown-brick building as they continued searching his apartment in the Hyde Park neighborhood of the northern city of Leeds, where British media reported that police had found evidence of explosives inside a bathtub.

But El-Nashar's co-worshippers said they were certain he eventually would be vindicated.

"I'm certain Magdy was not involved in terrorism in any way," said Fat'hi Salameh, 44, a Palestinian who emigrated here 13 years ago.

"He's very polite. He's academic. He committed all his time to his research," said Salameh, speaking during a peace march in Hyde Park following the London attacks.

Salameh's 11-year-old son, Suhayb, spent a great deal of time with el-Nashar when he attended religious studies during the summer holidays. He considered him his "best adult friend."

"He made me laugh, told me a lot of jokes," said Suhayb. "I personally think he's innocent. I believe it when he says so."

During interrogation, el-Nashar, 33, who was arrested in Cairo on Thursday, denied any role in the attacks and said he was planning to return to Leeds after a vacation in Egypt, the Egyptian Interior Ministry said in a statement.

An Egyptian security official, speaking on condition of anonymity because a final decision has not yet been made, said there was still not enough evidence to link el-Nashar to the attacks.

Zahir Birawi, chairman of the mosque, said it wouldn't comment on people who pray there.

"We are cooperating with the police," he said.

Birawi said that in the aftermath of the attacks carried out by at least four British Muslims - three of Pakistani descent, the fourth born in Jamaica - the mosque will need to educate the community that "we are part of the society ... and that we have common values.

"We will convey the message of peace to everyone. We have to integrate in the community. We will tell our community to keep calm, not to react emotionally against any hate crimes," said Birawi, who is of Jordanian origin.

Meanwhile Saturday, hundreds of English, Arabs and Asians marched in the streets of Hyde Park, calling for harmony in their multiethnic community of about 30,000.

Chanting, "Peace, Unity - in our community," residents marched down the narrow streets.

--

[river rat]

The BBC has become a threat to Western Civilization, by their refusal to ask just the most obvious "follow up" questions..

Islamists: "Meanwhile Britain's top Muslims have branded the London suicide bombings "utterly criminal, totally reprehensible, and absolutely un-Islamic"...

Question: Why then has not a single senior Islamic cleric issued a "fatwa" ordering the END of Islamic Jihadist terrorism?

Islamists: "Muslim leaders said there could never be any excuse for taking an innocent life, it said."

Question: Is there an official Islamic definition for "innocent life"? Are the Muslim children killed by car bombs, innocent life? Are the non-Muslim children killed by Islamic terrorists around the globe - innocent life?

Islamist: "The statement said everyone must confront the problems of Islamophobia, racism, unemployment, economic depravation and social exclusion."

Question: How do you avoid the consequences resulting from a constant history of incredibly irrational violence being perpetrated by MUSLIM extremists against non-Muslims and other Muslims as well ---- and how to you expect a sane society to regard ANY Muslim with trust that they will not destroy our children if given a chance?

Islamists: "Those who carried out the bombing, the statement said, "should in no sense be regarded as martyrs".

QUESTION: Has ANY senior Muslim Cleric issued a "Fatwa", proclaiming all Jihadists killed in an act of killing "innocents" be condemned to HELL with no chance of getting his "virgins"? But here again, we have to deal with at pesky question - as to who is innocent?


I don't expect the BBC or ANY "journalist" to ever work up the intellectual honesty or integrity to ever ask these questions......


I suspect we'll simply have to exercise the Old Testament Biblical response, and smite them.....


Semper Fi

[Canard]

"The lie machine known as the BBC strikes again"

Are you saying that the Egyptian Interior Minister didn't make the reported statement?

[Dark Skies]

I have had Muslim friends and thought they were just swell.

But my attitude toward Islam is evolving rapidly.

Islam is like a virus that all Muslim's have. The virus of Islam lies dormant until something triggers it. And once it is triggered, it gives its host the capacity to, if called, kill innocent men, women, and children without remorse.

And the trigger...simply the desire to serve ones creator. Once a Muslim decides he wants to become religious--that he wants to connect with his idea of god--his virus starts growing.

[Publius6961]

Lying, scumbag POS idiots.

Yeah, right.

A maggot educated in the U.S., living in England and visiting Pakistan while mass murder occurs in England.

Egypt assures me me there's no connection with terrorists and terrorism.
I will go get a lobotomy later this week so I can swallow this muslim logic.

[Alia]

NC *Ping*

Please FRmail Constitution Day OR TaxRelief OR Alia if you want to be added to or removed from this North Carolina ping list.

[jch10]

You do not have to be affiliated with Al Qaeda to be a suicide bomber. Following the words of Mohammed, to kill unbelievers, can take any route or method.

[Fedora]

It emerged bomber Mohammad Sadique Khan, a teacher, met MPs Hilary Benn and Jon Trickett during his school's trip to the Palace of Westminster in July 2004.

SNIP

Britain's Labour Party, meanwhile, confirmed media reoports Saturday that Khan, 30, visited the Houses of Parliament last year as the guest of Labour lawmaker Jon Trickett. It said Trickett alerted security officials when he realized Khan was one of the bombers.

Do we have any additional information on how Khan came into contact with Trickett and Hilary Benn? I'm trying to find if there was any individual/group that may have served as an intermediary in introducing them. Since they met during a school trip I'm inferring some student group linking Muslim students to antiwar politicians would make sense.

Workers' Daily Internet Edition: Early Day Motions Directed against the "War on Terrorism"

EDM 321: ARMS TRADE WITH ISRAEL

Tabled 29.10.01 by Mr George Galloway,

Mrs Irene Adams, John Austin, John Barrett, Mr Roger Berry, Richard Burden, Mrs Patsy Calton, Mr Ronnie Campbell, Mr Martin Caton, Mr Michael Clapham, Harry Cohen, Mr Iain Coleman, Mr Michael Connarty, Frank Cook, Jeremy Corbyn, Mrs Ann Cryer, Mr Tam Dalyell, Valerie Davey, Mrs Janet Dean, Sue Doughty, Julia Drown, Mr Bill Etherington, Dr Hywel Francis, Andrew George, Mr Neil Gerrard, Dr Ian Gibson, Mr Roger Godsiff, Matthew Green, David Hamilton, Paul Holmes, Mr Jimmy Hood, Mr Kelvin Hopkins, Dr Brian Iddon, Mr Eric Illsley, Lynne Jones, Mr Piara S Khabra, Mr Mark Lazarowicz, Mr David Lepper, Mr Terry Lewis, Mr Elfyn Llwyd, Mr Iain Luke, Alice Mahon, Rob Marris, Mr Paul Marsden, Mr Jim Marshall, John McDonnell, Mr Kevin McNamara, Laura Moffatt, Julie Morgan, Mr Martin O'Neill, Adam Price, Angus Robertson, Mr Mohammad Sarwar, Mr Alan Simpson, Llew Smith, Mr Paul Stinchcombe, Mr Simon Thomas, Mr Mark Todd, Dr Jenny Tonge, Jon Trickett, Mr Robert N Wareing, Steve Webb, Brian White, Hywel Williams, Mr Mike Wood, Mr James Wray, Derek Wyatt, 67 signatures

That this House calls upon Her Majesty's Government to suspend arms trading with Israel in the light of the continued Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands, the intensified repression by Ariel Sharon's government, the increased illegal settlement activity in the West Bank and East Jerusalem and Israel's continuing violations of UN resolutions; notes that British police forces including the Metropolitan Police are buying Israeli bullets, the Ministry of Defence are about to buy Israeli anti-tank missiles and have purchased grenades, shells and military avionics; and further notes that British military hardware continues to be sold to Israel and used against Palestinians in defiance of UK export criteria.

Stop the War Coalition, September 28, 2002

Organisations supporting the demonstration include:

TGWU, UNISON, CWU, NUJ, FBU, RMT, ASLEF, TSSA, PCS, NATFHE, NAPO, NUM, GLATUC (Greater London Association of Trades Councils), Amicus-MSF London Regional Council, Torfaen Trades Council, ACTS 1/372 Branch, Islington UNISON, London Fire Authority UNISON, Liverpool Dockers Shop Stewards Committee, Dundee Local Authority Shop Stewards Liaison Committee, Keele University AUT, Al-Furook, Al-Khoei Foundation, All Hallows (BRAIN), British Humanist Association, Caledonian Express (finance ezine), Campaign Against Criminalising Communities, Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND), Campaign for Palestinian Rights, CARF (Campaign Against Racism and Fascism), Colombia Solidarity Campaign, Communist Party of Britain, Daymer, Eve's Back (Manchester's women's magazine), Federation of Kurdish Community Organisations, Federation of Student Islamic Societies in UK and EIRE (FOSIS), Friends of Al-Aqsa, Globalise Resistance, Green Party, Hounslow Somali Association, Housman's Peace Bookshop, Iraqi Network for Human Rights, Islamic Centre England, Islamic Human Rights Commission, Isle of Wight Labour Party, Jewish Socialist Group, Lawyers for Justice in Palestine, Morning Star, Labour Against the War, Labour Left Briefing, Lawyers Against the War, Liberation, London Council of Mosques, London Labour Left, Mayfair Islamic Centre, Media Workers Against War, Muslim Association of Britain, Muslim Council of Britain (MCB), Muslim Cultural Heritage Centre, Muslim Parliament, Muslim Public Affairs Committee, Muslims for JustPeace, Muslims for Justice, Muslim Student Society, National Civil Rights Movement, Network of Socialist Campaign Groups, New York City Labour Against the War, Newham Monitoring Project, North England Medical Arab Society, Red Pepper, Palestinian Community, Palestinian Prisoners’ Society, Palestinian Return Centre, Palestinian Forum, Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Partizans (People against Rio Tinto), Peace People (Northern Ireland), Plaid Cymru, Q-News (London-based Muslim magazine), Sefton and West Lancashire Green Party, Socialist Alliance, Socialist Campaign of Labour MP's, Socialist Labour Party, Socialist Party, Socialist Workers Party, Socialist Resistance, Student Campaign Forum, Tribune, UKIM, University of North London Students Union, Women’s Coalition for Peace and Development (New Delhi), Women's Environmental Network, Women's Interntational League for Peace and Freedom (UK Section), World Ahlu Albayt Islamic League (WABIL), World Assembly of Muslim Youth, Young Muslim Organization UK

Individuals supporting the demonstration include: Baroness Uddin, John Austin MP, Harold Best MP, Helen Clark MP, Tony Clarke MP, Harry Cohen MP, Jeremy Corbyn MP, John Cryer MP, Tam Dalyell MP, Jim Dobbin MP, Bill Etherington MP, George Galloway MP, Paul Marsden MP, John McDonnell MP, Adam Price MP, Alan Simpson MP, Llew Smith MP, Jon Trickett MP, Mike Wood MP, Tony Worthington MP, Jean Lambert MEP, Caroline Lucas MEP, Baroness Sarah Ludford MEP, Ken Livingstone (Mayor of London), Diran Adibayo (novelist), Damon Albarn (singer), Tariq Ali (writer), Yasmin Alibhai-Brown (writer), Roger Allum (actor), Felicity Arbuthnot (journalist), Frankie Armstrong (singer), Steve Ashley (singer-songwriter), Roy Bailey (singer), Yunus Baksh (UNISON Executive), Roger Bannister (UNISON Executive), Simon Barrow (Assistant General Secretary, Churches Together in Britain and Ireland), Graham Bash (Labour Briefing), Tony Benn, Ronan Bennett (novelist, screenwriter), Rt. Rev. Colin Bennetts (Bishop of Coventry), Antonia Bird (film director), Ann Black (Labour NEC), Jim Boumelha (Treasurer, International Fed. of Journalists), Rosie Boycott (editor), Billy Bragg (singer song-writer), Saffron Burrows (actor), Alex Callinicos (professor of politics, York University), Barry Camfield (TGWU Assistant General Secretary), Noam Chomsky, Ruth Clarke (London Labour Party Regional Board), Ken Coates (former Labour MEP, peace activist), Louise Christian (lawyer), Tony Church (PCS NEC), Caryl Churchill (playwright), Mary Compton (NUT Vice President), Bob Crow (RMT General Secretary), Helen Currie (NUT Executive), Karl Dallas (music writer), Hazel Danson (NUT Executive), Liz Davies (former Labour NEC), Jeremy Dear (NUJ General Secretary), Andy de la Tour (actor), Brian Eno (musician), Jem Finer (founder member of the Pogues), Kat Fletcher (NUS Women's Officer), Jeff Fowler (NATFHE NEC), Paul Foot (journalist), Nina Franklin (NUT Executive), Jim Friel (GPMU Scotland), Lindsey German (editor), Baljeet Ghale (NUT Executive), Andy Gilchrist (FBU General Secretary), Terry Gilliam (film-maker), Ginger Tom (Aus. band), Janice Godrich (PCS, President), Mike Gonzalez (Glasgow University), Tony Graham (theatre director), Suresh Grover (anti-racist campaigner), Jeremy Hardy (broadcaster, writer), Susannah Harker (actor), Chris Harman (editor, Socialist Worker), Stephanie Harrison (lawyer), Dave Harvey

Alliance for Green Socialism: See the Truth Under the Umbrella, issue 47 * wednesday, october 9th, 2002, Stopping the War

Three Leeds Labour MPs, Fabian Hamilton, Harold Best and Paul Truswell, along with a former Leader of the Leeds Council Jon Trickett, MP for Hemsworth, voted for the adjournment resolution during the parliamentary debate on Iraq. Effectively they were showing how worried they are about Blair's single-minded determination in taking the country towards war.

They should all be congratulated.

This is quite significant when three out of the eight Leeds MPs voted against the government line. It is also known that four others -- John Battle, Colin Challen, George Mudie and Colin Burgon -- have serious doubts about the direction Blair is going in sucking up to Bush. Even Hilary Benn, despite being a junior government minister, has been rumoured to be expressing doubts privately.