By Madeleine Gruen
The Home Office announced today the names of sixteen out of twenty-two individuals who are banned from entering the U.K. The Home Office deemed these individuals a threat to public security because of their record of promoting hate.
Six of the twenty-two were not mentioned in the announcement because it is "considered not in the public interest to disclose their names."
Yunis Al-Astal
While the Home Office should be commended for taking a stand against the purveyors of hate, even if symbolically, the list itself is puzzling. Some named are certainly influential radicalizing agents who are able to incite acts of violence. For example, Yunis Al-Astal, whose name is one of the first on the Home Office list, is a cleric and a Hamas member of the Palestinian Parliament. Al-Astal refers to Jews as the "brothers of apes and pigs" who should "taste the bitterness of death." He has said that it is the duty of women to die as suicide bombers.
Abdul Alim Musa, the American Islamist extremist leader of As-Sabiqun, is also worthy of a spot on the list. (For more information about Abdul Alim Musa and As-Sabiqun, see article by Madeleine Gruen & Frank Hyland, originally published on the Counterterrorism Blog).
Several other Americans were included, such as Don Black, the former Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, who runs the white supremacist web site "Stormfront" from his home in Florida. Black's efforts concentrate on establishing white supremacy in the United States. Fellow supremacist Eric Gliebe is also named, as is Michael Savage, the ultra-conservative host of Talk Radio Network's program "Savage Nation."
Kansas-based hate preacher Fred Phelps and his daughter, Shirley, appear on the list. The Phelps' demonstrations against homosexuals draw a handful of participants and could be described as side-show circus acts.
Fred Phelps
Others named on the list, without much supporting description of their background, affiliations, or offenses, are:
Abdullah Qadri Al Ahdal
"Preacher. Considered to be engaging in unacceptable behaviour by seeking to foment, justify or glorify terrorist violence in furtherance of particular beliefs and fostering hatred which might lead to inter-community violence."
Wadgy Abd El Hamied Mohamed Ghoneim
"A prolific speaker and writer. Considered to be engaging in unacceptable behaviour by seeking to foment, justify or glory terrorist violence in furtherance of particular beliefs and to provoke others to commit terrorist acts."
Mike Guzovsky
"Leader of a violent group and actively involved with military training camps. Considered to be engaging in unacceptable behaviour by seeking to foment, justify or glorify terrorist violence in furtherance of particular beliefs and to provoke others to terrorist acts."
Safwat Hijazi
"Television preacher. Considered to be engaging in unacceptable behaviour by glorifying terrorist violence."
Nasr Javed
"Considered to be engaging in unacceptable behaviour by seeking to foment, justify or glorify terrorist violence in furtherance of particular beliefs."
Samir Al Quntar
"Spent three decades in prison for killing four soldiers and a four-year-old girl. Considered to be engaging in unacceptable behaviour by seeking to foment, justify or glorify terrorist violence in furtherance of particular beliefs and to provoke others to terrorist acts.
Artur Ryno and Pavel Skachevsky
"Leaders of a violent gang that beat migrants and posted films of their attacks on the internet. Considered to be engaging in unacceptable behaviour by fomenting serious criminal activity and seeking to provoke others to serious criminal acts."
Conspicuously absent from the Home Office's list are the spiritual figures who support Al Qaeda, such as Anwar al-Awlaki. Or, the international leaders of Hizb ut-Tahrir, who use London as a home base for generating propaganda that promotes anti-British and anti-American sentiment and threatens to overthrow non-Islamic regimes worldwide.
Again, the Home Office should be commended for taking a stand against hatred, however, many of those selected for inclusion on this first published list do not pack much punch. The credibility they are given by appearing on the list may outweigh the potential damage they could cause to the U.K.
May 5, 2009 11:59 AM Print
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