Islamic website tied to MP's stabbing resurfaces under new name
A radical US-based Islamic website shut down last month after allegedly helping to inspire the stabbing of a Labour MP has resurfaced with a new name.
Roshonara Choudry (L), the British Muslim jailed for life for stabbing Stephen Timms, identified RevolutionMuslim as an inspiration for her actions Photo: PA
Younus Abdullah Muhammad, a founder of both sites, told The Daily Telegraph that IslamPolicy.com was the direct successor to RevolutionMuslim.com which was closed amid the furore over its role in the attack on Stephen Timms, MP for East Ham.
"IslamPolicy will continue with the work of RevolutionMuslim," Mr Muhammad, a white American convert to Islam, said during an interview in which he called the Sept 11 terror attacks "justified violence".
He continued: "If loving Muslims that fight and die to defend themselves from Western imperialism make the UK and US governments associate me or IslamPolicy with terrorists, then I am honoured to be so associated."
US counter-terrorism officials say that at least a third of the more than 50 domestic terror suspects arrested in America in the last year had ties to RevolutionMuslim, an English-language site aimed at Muslims in the West.
They trace its roots to a network of sites run by the now banned al-Muhajiroun group in Britain. "It is playing an important role in the export to the US of the British disease of home-grown terror by radicalised young Muslims," a US official said.
Aaron Zelin, a US academic who follows pro-jihadi websites, says that the US-based RevolutionMuslim was being increasingly used by British extremists to skirt hate speech and incitement laws in the UK and promote groups with al-Muhajiroun links.
The site, which was hosted on an American Google server, was closed down last month after intense pressure from British and American security officials. But Mr Muhammad has now established IslamPolicy on a blogging site also operated by Google, calling it the new home for the closed site.
He has said that IslamPolicy will focus on ideology and education, but British and American counterterror experts are monitoring it closely for the sort of radical content that was a fixture of its predecessor.
Roshonara Choudry, the British Muslim jailed for life for stabbing Mr Timms, identified RevolutionMuslim and the teachings of Anwar al-Awlaki, the US-born Yemen-based militant preacher, as inspirations for her actions.
There was outrage when the website ran a posting eulogising her and encouraging similar attacks on MPs who, like Mr Timms, had voted in favour of the Iraq war.
Peter Barron, European communications director for Google, said: "We are looking at the new site and will remove content which breaks our guidelines on hate speech and dangerous or illegal content. What we can't do, and which few people would want a private company to do, is check what people want to post online before they do so."
The site's re-emergence as IslamPolicy prompted demands for the new site to be closed by Patrick Mercer, the Conservative MP who was formerly his party's Homeland Security spokesman.
"I am horrified to hear that the people behind the RevolutionMuslim site have started up again," he said. "I am equally surprised that the American authorities have allowed these highly suspicious individuals to operate yet again."
They trace its roots to a network of sites run by the now banned al-Muhajiroun group in Britain. "It is playing an important role in the export to the US of the British disease of home-grown terror by radicalised young Muslims," a US official said.
Aaron Zelin, a US academic who follows pro-jihadi websites, says that the US-based RevolutionMuslim was being increasingly used by British extremists to skirt hate speech and incitement laws in the UK and promote groups with al-Muhajiroun links.
The site, which was hosted on an American Google server, was closed down last month after intense pressure from British and American security officials. But Mr Muhammad has now established IslamPolicy on a blogging site also operated by Google, calling it the new home for the closed site.
He has said that IslamPolicy will focus on ideology and education, but British and American counterterror experts are monitoring it closely for the sort of radical content that was a fixture of its predecessor.
Roshonara Choudry, the British Muslim jailed for life for stabbing Mr Timms, identified RevolutionMuslim and the teachings of Anwar al-Awlaki, the US-born Yemen-based militant preacher, as inspirations for her actions.
There was outrage when the website ran a posting eulogising her and encouraging similar attacks on MPs who, like Mr Timms, had voted in favour of the Iraq war.
Peter Barron, European communications director for Google, said: "We are looking at the new site and will remove content which breaks our guidelines on hate speech and dangerous or illegal content. What we can't do, and which few people would want a private company to do, is check what people want to post online before they do so."
The site's re-emergence as IslamPolicy prompted demands for the new site to be closed by Patrick Mercer, the Conservative MP who was formerly his party's Homeland Security spokesman.
"I am horrified to hear that the people behind the RevolutionMuslim site have started up again," he said. "I am equally surprised that the American authorities have allowed these highly suspicious individuals to operate yet again."
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