Radical Muslim jailed for calling for jihad against MPs

Judge describes Bilal Zaheer Ahmad as a viper in our midst before jailing him for 12 years for threats on websites An IT graduate who wrote messages on an Islamic extremist website calling on Muslims to “raise the knife of jihad” and attack and kill British MPs who voted in favour of the war in Iraq has been jailed for 12 years. Bilal Zaheer Ahmad, 24, posted the threats on the US-based RevolutionMuslim.com website with a full list of all MPs who had voted in the House of Commons in favour of the war and links providing personal contact details. He called on them to emulate Roshonara Choudhry , who had attempted to murder the Labour MP Stephen Timms with a knife at his East Ham constituency surgery six months previously, Bristol crown court heard. Ahmad, who worked for an insurance company in Telford, Shropshire, also posted a link to the Tesco website listing cheap knives, urging would-be fanatics to use them to carry out attacks. Jailing him for 12 years, with an additional five years’ extended period on licence, Mr Justice Royce said: “You became a viper in our midst willing to go as far as possible to strike at the heart of our system.” Ahmad, who holds British and Pakistani passports, had purported to be a British citizen, said Royce. “But what you stand for is totally alien to what we stand for in our country.” He added that his views were “corrosively dangerous”. “It’s important MPs can hold constituency surgeries without the threat of someone pulling out a knife and trying to kill them. You were intent on striking at the heart of our democracy and if our politicians are to be at risk from those like you, then the message must go out loud and clear that this country will not tolerate such threats to its democratic processes.” Ahmad posted his threat on 3 November, the day after Choudhry, a 21-year-old university student, was jailed for life for the knife attack on Timms in May last year. She stabbed him twice with a six-inch knife, damaging his liver and perforating his stomach. She later said she had been influenced by the radical sermons of Anwar al-Awlaki, a Yemen-based preacher and al-Qaida leader. Police arrested Ahmad, at the time living in Dunstall, Wolverhampton, on 10

Posted by on July 29, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.