AMMAN, 10 August 2005 — The radical Islamist group Hizb-ut Tahrir said yesterday a ban on its British branch would strengthen its appeal to young Muslims disenchanted by what it called Western intolerance towards their faith. Abu Mamdouh Qutaishat, a leader of the party, said the British action, part of sweeping anti-terrorism measures after deadly London bombings, would make its followers more determined to advocate reviving an Islamic caliphate by non-violent means.
“What the British government is doing against us will only make Muslims more fervent in spreading our beliefs since this war is now exposed as one between the West and Islamic civilization,” Qutaishat told Reuters in an interview in Amman.
Prime Minister Tony Blair said on Friday Britain would ban the party’s British offshoot as part of measures in response to the London bombings on July 7, when four British Muslims killed themselves and 52 others on three underground trains and a bus. “Let no one forget this is the same Britain which worked with the infidel West for centuries to destroy the caliphate and is now demolishing its own democracy just to prevent Hizb-ut Tahrir from expressing its views. This shows deep hatred of Islam and Muslims,” Qutaishat added. British Prime Minister Tony Blair said he wants new powers to expel foreign nationals who incite terrorism, shut mosques breeding “fanaticism” and blacklist clerics, websites and bookshops deemed extremist.
