Muslims living in Luton in the United Kingdom were told during Ramadan last year that it was their Islamic “duty” to throw homosexuals from a “high building,” a jury at the Old Bailey has heard.
Five men have appeared at the court accused arranging a number of meetings and speaking in support of Islamic State, a proscribed organisation. At least one of the meetings took place in a residential garden in Luton, where the audience was encouraged to take part in violent jihad in Britain.
The court heard a recording of one speech, made during Ramadan last year, in which a man identified only as “Mohammed” told the audience that it was their “duty” to kill gay people, the Times has reported.
“When the parliament are making laws and having Gay Pride today in the UK, Gay Pride, where’s the pride in being gay? There’s no pride in being gay,” he said, adding: “Alhamdulillah [praise to be God] the people haven’t caught you, or it’s high building for you.”
He continued: “Brothers, there’s no time to sleep in your chair, no time for relaxation, we should be asking for forgiveness from Allah every night.
“Oh Allah, forgive that we’re living amongst these people and we’re not completing our duty towards you.”
Referring to three jihadist attacks which took the lives of British holiday-makers in Tunisia, a French factory-worker who was beheaded, and Kuwaiti worshippers via a bomb explosion, the speaker went on: “Don’t feel sorry for any British in Tunisia, don’t feel sorry for any factory workers in France, don’t feel sorry for any temple worshippers in Kuwait. We don’t feel sorry for those people.
“This is your iman [faith] akhi [brothers] and let it ignite because the spark has been lit. You know the rest.”
The recording was made by an undercover officer known as Kamal, who spent 20 months infiltrating the group and recording their speeches.
Three of the five defendants have been named as Yousaf Bashir, 35, encouraging support for Islamic State at a meeting; Rajib Khan, 37, accused of helping to arrange a meeting on July 11 and addressing the same meeting to encourage support for Islamic State; and Mohammed Sufiyan Choudry, is accused of encouraging support for Islamic State at a meeting held on July 2 last year.
The remaining two defendants have not been named for legal reasons but are also accused of arranging and addressing meetings urging support for Islamic State during Ramadan last year.
The case comes just days after France suffered two jihadist attacks linked to Ramadan, one in which a teenaged girl was stabbed as an attempted “sacrifice”, and another in which an off-duty police officer and his partner were killed in front of their three-year-old child.
In response, the Dutch Freedom Party leader Geert Wilders has warned that “Ramadan is the deadliest time of the year,” and has called on western countries to “acknowledge that Islam is the problem.
“Islam and freedom are incompatible. We must de-Islamize our Western societies,” he said.
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