According to the British newspaper The Independent, Cleric Omar Bakri Mohammed believes the attempt to behead a British soldier in London can be justified “under certain interpretations of Islam.”
Bakri Mohammed, who was banned from Britain for “extremist activities,” is believed to have influenced London attacker Michael Adebolajo through his sermons.
The cleric said when he saw the video of Adebolajo holding a knife and a cleaver in his blood-soaked hands after the attack, he thought Adebolajo to be “very courageous.”
Bakri Mohammed added: “Under Islam this can be justified, he was not targeting civilians, he was taking on a military man in an operation.”
“To people around here [in the Middle East] he is a hero for what he has done.” The cleric said Adebolajo had “a lot of anger about the Iraq war and the war on terror.”
As these wars were going on, a 2007 recording of Bakri Mohammed revealed him saying, “When you meet [Westerners], slice their own necks,” and “make the blood spill all over.” He implied that doing so would tire out the Western enemies and force them into ending the wars.
Added Bakri Mohammed: “Use the sword and remove the head of the enemy.”
The cleric, now residing in Lebanon, named one of his sons Osama Bin Laden.
British Prime Minister David Cameron continues to claim Islam was not the cause of the London attack.