Muslims warn Blair of 'mark of dictatorship'
By Philip Johnston, Home Affairs Editor
(Filed: 17/08/2005)
Muslim groups yesterday denounced Government plans to deport fundamentalist clerics and ban extreme Islamist organisations as the "mark of dictatorships".
As they issued their comments, the Crown Prosecution Service confirmed that it had dropped charges against an imam who had been accused of calling for the slaughter of British servicemen and the murder of homosexuals.
Abdul Muhid, 22, was charged with racial hatred and a public order offence, which he denied. The case was dropped when the CPS said there was "not a realistic prospect of conviction" because of identification difficulties, though several witnesses were prepared to give evidence.
Muhid is alleged to be a leading member of the Saviour Sect, linked to Omar Bakri Mohammed, who is on holiday in Lebanon and who has been banned from re-entering the country. He was arrested at a religious stall in Walthamstow, east London, last year after complaints that a man had called for British troops in Iraq to be killed and for homosexuals to be hurled from cliff tops.
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