Islam4UK banned under new legislation

The Islamist group Islam4UK, which planned a controversial march through Wootton Bassett last week, has now been banned under legislation outlawing the “glorification” of terrorism.

Islam4UK received much media attention over the last week after it announced plans to hold a march through the Wiltshire town famous for honouring soldiers killed in Afghanistan.

As of January 14, being a member of the group, or its ‘parent’ organisation, al-Mahajiroun, will be a criminal offence punishable by ten years in prison. Home Secretary Alan Johnson announced the legislation on Tuesday, January 9.

“I have today laid an order which will proscribe al-Muhajiroun, Islam4UK and a number of the other names the organisation goes by,” Mr Johnson said.

Proscription is “a tough but necessary power to tackle terrorism”, Mr Johnson added, and was “not a course we take lightly”.

The decision followed months of monitoring the output of websites and comments by senior figures. Al-Muhajiroun was founded by Omar Bakri Muhammad and Anjem Choudary and has been operating in Britain since the mid-1980s. The group has already been proscribed under the names al-Ghurabaa and the Saved Sect or the Saviour Sect.

On January 11, more than 200 members of the right wing English Defence League (EDL) arrived in Wootton Bassett after rumours that Islam4UK intended to hold its anti-war march imminently, despite a statement released by Islam4UK’s leader, Anjem Choudary, on January 10, saying the group had “successfully highlighted the plight of Muslims in Afghanistan” and that the march would not take place.

“We at Islam4UK have decided, after consultation with others including our Sheikh Omar Bakri Muhammad, that no more could be achieved even if a procession were to take place in Wootton Bassett,” he said.