A Christian councillor has voiced concern over a planned 'mega mosque' at the site of the 2012 Olympics after the trial of airline terror suspects revealed close links with mosque promoters and Islamic fundamentalist sect Tablighi Jamaat.
The Muslim suspects were accused of planning to blow up seven Atlantic passenger planes.
The controversial and secretive Tablighi Jamaat wants to build its huge new international headquarters mosque at West Ham, close to the site of the 2012 London Olympics.
Of the accused men in the airline terror trial, Ahmed Abdulla Ali, Assad Sarwar and Waheed Zaman have been publicly associated with Tablighi Jamaat activities in Walthamstow and High Wycombe. At Woolwich Crown Court on Monday, Ali and Sarwar were convicted of conspiracy to murder and the jury was unable to reach a verdict on Zaman. He may face a retrial.
Newham Councillor and leader of the Christian Peoples Alliance, Alan Craig, who has been leading the campaign to stop the construction of the mosque.
He said, "This high profile court case should seriously alarm the government and the organisers of the 2012 London Olympics. The exact position of the site of the proposed mega-mosque is crucial.
"It is near the Olympic stadium and directly adjacent to one of the main spectator access pathways. The mosque, if built, will be close to the heart of the Olympics."
The proposed mosque site is also on the banks of Channelsea River. Scotland Yard terrorism experts said this potentially gave radicals a rapid water-borne way into and out of the Olympic site via the Rivers Thames, Lea and Channelsea.
Last year, Cllr Craig, together with his wife and young daughters, was the subject of a YouTube 'death-threat' video "In Memory of Councillor Alan Craig" by another young Muslim man linked to Tablighi Jamaat.
Cllr Craig said, "The mega-mosque is likely to be a centre for Islamic fundamentalism and the radicalisation of young men. It can only pose a direct security threat to the Olympics."
Cllr Craig said he was also concerned that in Tablighi Jamaat's Pakistani homeland, the group has been closely associated with the Taleban and with banned groups such as Harkat-ul-Mujahideen.
Tablighi Jamaat has also aroused suspicion within the Muslim community and a number of moderate Muslim leaders have spoken publicly against the group and its mega-mosque proposals.
Dr Taj Hargey, of the Muslim Educational Centre of Oxford, accused the group of espousing a virulent intolerant form of Islam that will "generate social friction rather than community cohesion", whilst Dr Irfan al-Alawi, of the Centre for Islamic Pluralism, accused the group of being linked to terrorist activities in Pakistan and Britain.
Dr Irfan al-Alawi, European director of the Centre for Islamic Pluralism, told ABC radio, "Tablighi Jamaat has been linked with terrorist activities in Pakistan - Jamaat-e-Islami, Lashkar-e-Taiba and so forth. These are the organisations which train radicals and send them to Afghanistan, Iraq and other countries."
Cllr Craig said, "We would be mad to allow Tablighi Jamaat to build their new global headquarters mosque here at West Ham. We'd be literally asking for trouble - during the Olympics and afterwards too."
