LONDON (AP):
A MUSLIM cleric who urged his followers to kill Hindus, Jews and Americans was sentenced to nine years in prison yesterday for inciting others to commit murder and stirring up racial hatred.
Judge Peter Beaumont, common sergeant of London, told Abdullah el-Faisal, a Jamaican-born convert to Islam, that he was making his sentences on the separate charges consecutive rather than concurrent to emphasise Britain's "abhorrence of the views you expressed."
"You not only preached hate but through the words you uttered ... you urged those who cared to listen and watch to kill those who do not share your faith," said the judge.
He said el-Faisal's fiery preaching had been particularly irresponsible because he came to Britain to minister to young people.
"Instead of calming fears you fanned the flames of hostility," said the judge.
He sentenced the cleric to seven years for soliciting murder against unknown victims - the first prosecution in more than a century under an 1861 law and two years for incitement of racial hatred. The maximum sentence would have been life.
Beaumont said el-Faisal would have to serve at least half his sentence before becoming eligible for parole and added that he would recommend that Home Secretary David Blunkett deport him to Jamaica whenever during the sentence he decided it was appropriate.
A group of the preacher's supporters gathered on a courtroom balcony shouted out in protest when Beaumont handed down the sentence. "Allah is the only judge!" yelled one.
El-Faisal, who was convicted last month of three charges of soliciting murder and three charges of inciting racial hatred, preached
across Britain and distributed Arabic-language tapes of his speeches.
His lawyer Jerome Lynch urged the judge to pass a light sentence, and read letters from several people who described el-Faisal as a kind man who helped others in his community and did not preach hate.
He said the preacher had never been warned his speech might violate the law and that there was no evidence either he or any of his followers had links to terrorism.
He called el-Faisal "misguided rather than malicious" and said outside the courthouse that the sentence was "on the harsh side." He argued during the trial that the cleric's interpretations of the Quran were taken out of context.
"There is a real prospect that many Muslims will regard it as harsh even if they do not share his views," Lynch said. He added that el-Faisal planned to appeal.
Prosecutors said that in study group lectures and on tapes, the cleric had tried to recruit British youths for terrorist training and urged violence against non-Muslims.
"How wonderful it is to kill the (unbeliever)," he said on one tape. "You crawl on his back and while you push him down into hellfire you are going into paradise."
Prosecutors said he also backed the use of chemical and nuclear weapons against unbelievers and had approvingly quoted the words of terror mastermind Osama bin Laden.
"If you have cockroaches in your house, would you spray them?" el-Faisal asked on one tape. "If you would spray the cockroach, spray the Hindu."
