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Met anti-terror adviser is wanted for terrorism
Kiran Randhawa15.12.08
A SCOTLAND Yard adviser is wanted by Interpol for terror offences, it is revealed today.
Mohamed Ali Harrath has been the subject of an arrest warrant for 16 years for co-founding an alleged terrorist organisation in Tunisia.
He has more recently been advising the Metropolitan Police on countering Muslim extremism in Britain.
The 45-year-old chief executive of the Islam Channel in London, who has alleged links to terror organisation the Tunisian Islamic Front, has been accused of seeking help from Osama bin Laden by Tunisian authorities.
He has also been convicted in absentia of numerous criminal and terrorism-related offences by Tunisian courts and sentenced to 56 years in prison.
On an Interpol red notice - its highest level of alert - Mr Harrath is accused of offences including counterfeiting, forgery, crimes involving the use of weapons, explosives and terrorism.
Despite this the British Government refused a request by the Tunisian authorities in 1997 to have him extradited.
His lawyers instead sought to remove the notice put out by the international police organisation, denying his involvement in terrorist activity.
According to them, "the UK security services informed Mr Harrath that the UK did not regard him as a threat and that there was no basis for the Tunisian extradition request, which the Tunisian authorities had wholly failed to substantiate".
In evidence before Britain's Special Immigration Appeals Commission in 2003, an MI5 witness accused TIF of terrorism activities in France.
Mr Harrath has admitted setting up the TIF but said it was a "non-violent political party founded in 1986 to oppose the one-party state in Tunisia".
He said his movement was wrongly blamed by the French courts for founding a guerilla network using banned military weapons.
He stated: "We are not extremists and we are not terrorists and we have never been involved in such activities."
But he added that "revolution" is not necessarily "a dirty word" and "there is nothing wrong or criminal in trying to establish an Islamic state."
Despite the arrest warrant, Mr Harrath was appointed an adviser by the Met to its Muslim Contact Unit.
He said he was "regularly consulted in an advisory capacity by the Muslim Contact Unit of the British police for guidance on best practices in relation to counter-terrorism issues and combating extremism".
In a letter of support to Mr Harrath, Robert Lambert, the former head of the unit, wrote he had made a "key contribution to our efforts to defeat adverse influence of al Qaeda in the UK".
The Met today refused to comment.
Reader views (5)
Most of the good Muslims in UK can name a few Radical Extremist..but what's the point? those people are much more better protected than us!
Remember BBC Panorama? here they showed how a so called modern broad minded Muslim leader was actually well connected with Ultra Radical suicide bombing Wahibi groups in Middle East? everybody in Muslim community knows about those evil elements but even after that programme what happened? NOTHING!
Anyway, lets not just put it on Met's shoulder. Has anybody considered the fact that this person was not detected by all powerful MI5 or MI6? how much crucial and sensitive information was compromised by this man? who's going to ask this question? even Evening Standard diddn't!!!
- R,M, London,UK
Great ! We have a guy that wants an Islamic State, he has been found guilty for Terrorism by one of our allies and is named on a number of court documents as an associate of Osama bin Laden. What do we do - the police give him money, we give him a TV licencse to promote his vitriol and we ask him to lead his organisations towards an islamic state. Does this ring a bell? Oh yes, we worked in the same with those other 2 well known purveyors of peace - Abu Hamza and Omar Bakri !! This guy should never have been allowed into the UK never mind working with him. His TV Channel and projects give us peaceful BRITISH Muslims a bad name.
- David, \london
Ofcom said that it decided Mr Harrath was a fit and proper person to hold a TV broadcasting licence after seeking guidance from Interpol, the Home Office and police. The government has not to answer to the British public, why was he not deported? why was he given a job with the police? why was he awarded a TV broadcasting licence? This man wants an islamic state is that OK with the British
- Maggie, London
Brilliant! JUST what we need
- Kate, London
Is this a suprise? consider the Met has enough on its plate with the other two supended officers are they his friends as well.
- Leo, london
