Trail of terror leads from north London mosque
Zacarias Moussaoui, who has pleaded guilty in a US court to six counts of conspiracy in connection with the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington, was a member of the mosque.
Convicted shoebomber Richard Reid, who unsuccessfully tried to blow up a transatlantic flight in 2001, was another worshipper there and police believe he was radicalised by people at the mosque.
Omar Sharif, a British would-be suicide bomber who planned to take part in an attack on an Israeli bar in 2003, also attended the mosque. Police later found an audio tape featuring a talk by Hamza when they searched his house.
A number of the foreign terrorism suspects held by Britain under emergency legislation introduced after September 11 had lived or spent time at the mosque.
The most prominent of them, Jordanian cleric Abu Qatada, said by Britain to have been the spiritual inspiration for September 11, used to deliver sermons at Finsbury Park Mosque.
Prosecutors said a 2003 plot to manufacture the deadly poison ricin at a north London apartment had been hatched by members of the mosque.
Kamel Bourgass, who was convicted over the plot last year, stayed at the mosque and copies of “recipes” on how to make ricin were made on a photocopier there.
David Courtailler, jailed by a French court in 2004 for abetting a network of Islamic militants, also attended the mosque while he was in Britain.
Frenchman Jamal Zougam, one of the prime suspects accused of plotting the Madrid train bombings on March 11, 2004, also visited the mosque during a trip to Britain, according to media reports.
Yesterday the mosque’s trustees said they could not comment on the case because it had nothing to do with them.
Mohammed Kozbar, secretary of the trustees and spokesman for the mosque, said the congregation had grown since Hamza left, there were meetings with other faiths and the building had been refurbished.
“Since we took over in February last year, it’s running in a very good way.”
