Bomb-Plot Son Brainwashed Say Family

Extremists led son astray, claim family

The Mirror - UK/April 1, 2004
By Justine Smith and Alex Williams

The family of one of the eight men suspected of plotting a bomb outrage in Britain claimed last night their son had earlier been brainwashed by religious extremists.

Omar Khyam was allegedly recruited by Sheikh Omar Bakri Mohammed's Al-Muhajiroun Islamic sect and taken to Pakistan four years ago.

His uncle Sajjah Ahmad told how relatives wrestled him from the grip of the alleged fanatics after he fell under their spell while visiting a mosque in Crawley, West Sussex.

Mr Ahmad claimed: "Omar was a normal kid until Al-Muhajiroun started preaching their hatred round here.

"They preyed on boys at the mosque and even in the shopping centres, getting them when they were young and impressionable.

"They showed them videos of the injustices Muslims were suffering and then channelled their anger into hatred.

"Then suddenly Omar disappeared. We didn't know where he had gone until he rang and said he was in Pakistan. So we used our contacts in the Pakistan army to find where he was and we went out to bring him back.

"When he came back he was shocked at the commotion it had caused. He saw how angry the family were and settled down.

"He was a devout Muslim, but he was a normal kid who loved Manchester United and played football and cricket. He was brilliant and could have played for England, but he started to lose interest when he got involved with these extremists.

"I don't believe he would want to hurt British people." Omar's mother Kauser Khan, 43, denied her 22-year-old son would have become involved in terrorism, despite his alleged connections to Al-Muhajiroun in his teens. Her other son Sujah, 17, was arrested along with Omar at the family home in Crawley on Tuesday by anti-terror police who found half a ton of bomb-making fertilizer at a self-storage depot in Hanwell, near Heathrow airport.

Mrs Khan said: "I would know if they had changed. They are good British boys. For him to do anything to hurt England would be like bombing his own home.

"We talked to him when he got back from Pakistan. He said he knew people and had talked about things, about how unfair Muslims were treated. But he would never have done anything.

"It was just talk. If he was associating with these people, how could we stop him?"

It is claimed the sect met Omar in 2000 after he visited the Langley Green Muslim Centre and mosque near his home, overseen by leader Saleem Sultan.

Mr Sultan said yesterday: "I have been involved in helping people get to Pakistan but that was a while ago.

"What they do now is up to them. They go to meetings at the mosque and meet other people who may guide them."

The sect was kicked out of the mosque after a campaign by moderate Muslim parents, police and the council.

Omar's cousin Ahmed Khan, 18, who is studying journalism at Kingston,Surrey, was also arrested in the Crawley raid.

Al-Muhajiroun leader in Luton Sayful Islam yesterday claimed police were "terrorising Muslims" after homes in the town were raided in Tuesday's swoop.

Anti-terrorist police were last night given more time to question the eight suspects, aged between 17 and 32.

Officers can spend up to two weeks interrogating the men, all of Pakistani descent, before either charging or releasing them.

A police spokesman said: "They are answering questions and co-operating."

The Muslim Council of Britain is writing to 1,000 UK mosques urging leaders to be on the lookout for terrorist activity and to report anything suspicious to police.