Abdel-Majed Abdel Bary, a suspect in the death of journalist James Foley, in an image from his rapping days. Source: Snapper Media
Britain's ambassador to the US says authorities are close to identifying US journalist James Foley's killer.
A FIREBRAND UK cleric who reportedly helped radicalise the men suspecting of beheading an American journalist has given “spiritual guidance” to several Melbourne Muslims.
London imam Anjem Choudary’s followers reportedly indoctrinated Abdel-Majed Abdel Bary, one of the main suspects in the savage killing of James Foley.
Friends say Bary was persuaded to join the fight in Syria after becoming friends with some of Choudary’s followers.
Mr Choudary has denied ever meeting Bary.
But the UK preacher, once branded the most dangerous man in Britain, said many Muslims had sought his advice throughout the years.
“I do have a lot of people contact me from Melbourne and other areas of Australia,’’ he said.
“Some people ask questions about Islam or they want to promote or thank us for what we are doing.
“In general the main communication is general questions about Islam, Sharia, and seeking guidance.”
Anjem Choudary led an extremist group banned under UK terrorism laws. Source: Supplied
Mr Choudary was the leader of Islam for the UK, an extremist group that was banned under terrorism laws. He has advocated that Britain become an Islamic state and follow sharia law.
In an interview last month, Mr Choudary told the Herald Sun he had helped Australian Muslim Ibrahim Saddiq-Conlon set up a branch of his extremist movement in Sydney.
“He was in contact and set up Sharia for Australia based on our own movement here.
“He was very active for a little,’’ Mr Choudary said. “It was a sustained communication over a number of years.”
Saddiq-Conlon, the founder of Sharia4Australia, was charged with making a hoax terrorist threat on the Sydney mardi gras and possessing child pornography. He said Australia had draconian and anti-Islamic laws that persecuted Muslims based on faith.
Mr Choudary said it was Muslims’ responsibility to defend Iraq and Syria.
His teaching also influenced a man who killed British soldier Lee Rigby on the streets of London.
Choudary was later filmed telling his followers that the soldier would be tortured in hell for not being Muslim.
THE chief suspect in the execution of journalist James Foley, so-called “hip-hop jihadist” Abdel-Majed Abdel Bary, may have also been videotaped machine-gunning a Syrian captive.
Investigators are comparing the Foley film with footage of a Briton shooting an unarmed Syrian in May.
Two men with English accents, including one dressed in black robes and favouring his left hand — as also seen in the Foley recording — carry out the Syrian’s killing with a pistol and an AK-47.
Experts from King’s College International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation have studied the earlier footage.
Analysts speculate the Foley video may have been staged and the journalist, 40, was beheaded later.
Other possible suspects for the Foley killer, who has been dubbed “Jihadi John”, are Abu Hussain Al-Britani, 20, a computer hacker from Birmingham, Abu Abdullah al-Britani, in his 20s, from Portsmouth, former drug dealer Aine Davis and Razul Islam, 21.
Bary, 23, is the son of an Egyptian-born man facing trial in the US for bombings in Africa in 1998.
- Mark Dunn
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