Author: Steve Bird
Publication: Times Online
Date: February 4, 2003
URL: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-565682,00.html
There were renewed calls for the
deportation of Abu Hamza al-Masri yesterday after he said that Allah had
destroyed the shuttle because it was a "trinity of evil" against Islam.
The militant cleric said that God
had destroyed the Columbia because it was carrying American Christians,
an Indian-born Hindu and an Israeli Jew. He added that the craft's explosion
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.
The former imam of Finsbury Park
Mosque in North London came under fierce criticism from politicians and
leading Muslims. They accused him of inciting racial and religious hatred
and revelling in the deaths of innocent people.
Mr Hamza, 44, said: "The 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. It 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."
The Muslim Council of Great Britain
said: "The vast majority of Muslims are now quite disgusted by (Mr Hamza's)
sentiments."
Andrew Dismore, Labour MP for Hendon,
who has campaigned for the removal of Mr Hamza's British citizenship, added:
"There is sufficient evidence to prosecute Mr Hamza from the things that
he has said." Whitehall officials are already looking at the possibility
of deporting the cleric after it was disclosed by The Times that his British
citizenship is based on a bigamous marriage.
The row over Mr Hamza's comments
came as Nasa disclosed that damage to the shuttle during its launch has
emerged as the leading theory for its break-up. It said the official investigation
was concentrating on a piece of foam insulation that fell from the shuttle
during lift-off, striking thermal plates on its wing.
