Author: IANS
Publication: The Times of India
Date: February 4, 2003
Pressure on the Blair government
is growing to deport an imam here who has said the space shuttle Columbia
was destroyed because it was carrying a "trinity of evil" -- Americans,
an Israeli and a Hindu.
Sheikh Abu Hamza said: "Muslim people
see these pilots as criminals. By going into space they would have sharpened
the accuracy of their bombs through satellites.
"These missions would increase the
number of satellites for military purposes. They would increase the slavery
of governance of other countries by America. It is a punishment from god.
Muslims see it that way.
"It is a trinity of evil because
it carried Americans, an Israeli and a Hindu, a trinity of evil against
Islam."
He said the explosion of Columbia
was a message from god because the first Israeli in space, Ilan Ramon,
a former fighter pilot, was killed over an area of Texas called Palestine.
Abu Hamza added: "It is a strong
message, for the Israeli, to be taken up there to space and he spoke about
the Holocaust, to try to make religious advancement from it and gain some
moral high ground, hence you have seen this message over Palestine."
Shadow home secretary Oliver Letwin
said Hamza's comments were "monstrous, appalling, despicable, and outrageous".
He said: "All sensible people in
Britain will be amazed that someone can engage in implicit incitement of
this sort without anyone laying a finger on him."
Kishore Ruparelia from the Vishwa
Hindu Parishad said: "Those people on board had nothing to do with politics,
it was a group of innocent people."
He said Abu Hamza was a "fanatical"
man who was talking "rubbish" and that the remarks were nothing but "venom
pouring out".
Andrew Dismore, Labour MP from Hendon,
who has campaigned for the deportation of Abu Hamza, said: "There is sufficient
evidence to prosecute Hamza from the things that he has said."
But the imam won backing from other
Muslim leaders as well. Anjem Choudray, the Britain-based leader of the
extremist group Al Muhajiroun, said Muslims "would not be shedding any
tears" over the accident.
Choudray said: "We believe if anyone
innocent dies, then that is something we would not wish on anyone. However,
this craft did also have one Israeli army official on board, who is famous
for his military escapades in Israel."
He said, "Especially at this time,
Muslims would not be shedding any tears. Ultimately the US is a country
at war with all Muslims and we know it is a sign from God."
