Christians Under Attack

A radical Muslim who has said he is prepared to be a suicide bomber is to speak at an Islamic convention in Manchester, England this weekend.

Dr Azzam Tamimi is a guest at tomorrow’s ExpoIslamia convention, which is expected to attract around 10,000 visitors.

The local Jewish community expressed dismay at the speakers invited to the day-long event at the Manchester Evening News arena.

Dr Tamimi, 51, from Palestine, is a self-described Hamas sympathiser and adviser to the group, a proscribed terrorist organisation in the UK.

In a BBC interview he has said “martyrdom means giving, sacrificing yourself for a noble cause”.

Asked if he would become a suicide bomber, he replied: “I am prepared, of course. If I have the opportunity I would do it. If I can go to Palestine and sacrifice myself I would do it. Why not?

“You see sacrificing myself for Palestine is a noble cause. It is the straight way to pleasing my God and I would do it if I had the opportunity.”

Other speakers include Zakir Naik, 40, an Indian doctor, who has reportedly expressed views saying it is blasphemous for Muslims to wish Christians Happy Christmas as it acknowledges Jesus as a son of God.

Dr Naik is also scheduled to speak at an event in Cardiff’s St David’s Hall today. It has provoked calls from at least one MP for the event to be cancelled.

A third speaker is former Sunday Express journalist Yvonne Ridley, a Muslim convert, who has upset Jewish groups recently with her comments on Israel.

Louis Rapaport, president of the Jewish Representative Council of Greater Manchester, said today: “It is certainly not anything that I or my community would want to be associated with. We are greatly suspicious of what their motives are. We have good relations with the Muslim community here. This is not going to lead to harmony.”

It is the fifth time the ExpoIslamia Convention has been held in the UK, organised by the Islamic Forum Europe and UK Muslim youth organisations.

The convention includes a day-long series of events including speakers and discussions.

Organisers claim it is a multi-faith event with other religious groups invited to attend – but Jewish community leaders have not been invited, and other faiths groups say they have not heard of the event.

A spokeswoman for the Manchester Inter-Faith Forum said: “We appear not to have been invited.”

Ahmed Khabir, spokesman for ExpoIslamia said individual views held or professed in the past were nothing to do with the event, and speakers would not stray into extremist subjects.

He added: “They are here to talk about specific issues. These are not our views or our principles. If they start to talk about these things we will take them off the platform.”

Asked about suicide bombing, Dr Tamimi said today: “That is history. I have not decided what I am going to say. It is a free country. Are we in a dictatorship now? Let the government prosecute me.”

The title of the event is A Call to Humanity