Omar Bakri Muhammad

Omar Bakri Muhammad is a prominent Sunni Islamist cleric who has a long record of supporting terrorism. “Cleric Omar Bakri ‘On the Run’ in Lebanon,” BBC News, April 2, 2014, .× He was the leader of U.K.-based Islamist organizations Hizb ut-Tahrir and the now proscribed al-Muhajiroun. Mahan Abedin, “Al-Muhajiroun in the UK: Interview with Omar Bakri Muhammad,” Jamestown Foundation, May 25, 2005, .× Under Bakri Muhammad’s leadership, al-Muhajiroun celebrated terrorist attacks and praised the perpetrators of the September 11, 2001, attacks as the “magnificent 19.” Dominic Casciani, “Profile: Omar Bakri Muhammad,” BBC News, August 12, 2005, .× In October 2015, Lebanese authorities sentenced Bakri Muhammad to six years of hard labor on terrorism charges. Jenny Stanton, “Son of ‘Tottenham Ayatollah’ hate preacher Omar Bakri is killed fighting for ISIS in Iraq,” Daily Mail , December 29, 2015, .× He was released in March 2023. Rebecca Camber, Duncan Gardham, and Hannah McCarthy, “Notorious hate preacher Omar Bakri Muhammad whose group inspired Lee Rigby killers and London Bridge attackers is seen in family photo after Lebanon prison release,” Daily Mail (London), April 3, 2023, .× Bakri Muhammad has influenced jihadists including Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebolawe who murdered British soldier Fusilier Rigby in May 2013 in London. Robert Mendick and Robert Verkaik, “Hate cleric Omar Bakri Muhammad preaches killing of women and children on Facebook,” Telegraph , November 29, 2014, .× Bakri Muhammad reportedly helped convert Adebolajo. After Adebolajo and Adebolawe’s arrests, Bakri Muhammad justified the murder to British media. Kim Sengupta, “Exclusive: Woolwich killings suspect Michael Adebolajo was inspired by cleric banned from UK after urging followers to behead enemies of Islam,” Independent (London), May 24, 2013, .× Bakri Muhammad is also rumored to have ties to al-Qaeda and has called for the group’s flag to be flown over Lebanon ’s presidential palace. Anne Barnard, “Lebanon Arrests Radical Cleric Who Backed Militants,” New York Times , May 25, 2014, .× Bakri Muhammad has been imprisoned in Lebanon since May 2014. Ian Johnston, “Banned radical cleric Sheikh Omar Bakri Mohamed arrested in Lebanon over ‘links to terrorism,’” Independent , May 26, 2014, .× From Lebanese prison, he maintained an incendiary Facebook profile on which he supported the killing of “kuffar” [non-believers] women and children, and preached that Christians and Jews are the enemies of Muslims. Facebook deleted the page in November 2014 after the British Telegraph newspaper alerted the social media company to its existence. Nonetheless, the page had remained up for a year before its deletion. Robert Mendick and Robert Verkaik, “Hate cleric Omar Bakri Muhammad preaches killing of women and children on Facebook,” Telegraph , November 29, 2014, .× Bakri Muhammad has denied that he or al-Muhajiroun recruited anybody to fight abroad. He claimed that he encouraged people to travel abroad to help their Muslim brothers but not to engage in violent activities. Mahan Abedin, “Al-Muhajiroun in the UK: Interview with Omar Bakri Muhammad,” Jamestown Foundation, May 25, 2005, .× Nonetheless, he has been linked to multiple violent jihadists, including Abdelhamid Abaaoud , the mastermind of the January 2015 Paris attacks. Abaaoud has been connected to the banned Islamist group Sharia4Belgium, for which Bakri Muhammad helped transport fighters to Syria. Jay Akbar, “Mastermind of Paris terror attacks was linked to at least six UK hate preachers including ‘Tottenham Ayatollah’ Omar Bakri Muhammad,” Daily Mail (London), November 22, 2015, .× Mohammed Bilal, who blew himself up in Kashmir on December 25, 2000, was also reportedly one of Bakri Muhammad’s students. Loulla-Mae Eleftheriou-Smith, “Radical Islamist group al-Muhajiroun linked to half of British terror attacks in past 20 years,” Independent (London), March 23, 2015, .× In 2016, an ISIS data breach revealed the