Abdul Rahman Saleem

Abdul Rahman Saleem, (born Rahman Yahyaei) also known as Abu Yahya, is a British-Iranian Islamic activist, born around 1975.

Early life and education

Saleem was born in Mashhad, Iran in 1975 to a Punjabi Sunni family. He left Iran for London in 1979 following the Iranian Revolution where he was bullied and discriminated against for his South Asian identity. This provoked his embracement of radical Islam and later he became closely acquainted with Al-Muhajiroun members Omar Bakri and Anjem Choudary. Nonetheless, he excelled in his studies, earning 11 A* Grades at GCSE and 5 A grades at A Level in English literature, Persian, Further Mathematics, Mathematics and Physics. Despite this, he opted to attend University in Iran and was granted a placement at Sharif University of Technology to study Mechanical Engineering in 1993. He graduated in 1998 and returned to the United Kingdom the following year.

Career

He is a former Al Muhajiroun spokesman,[1][2] a former member of the Saved Sect, and was a prominent member of al-Maddad, an organisation that claims to have sent dozens of British Muslims to fight in Chechnya and elsewhere. In August 2001, ...he went to secret camps in Pakistan and Afghanistan and trained in the use of guns and explosives.[3]

He lives in Poplar, London. He is the father of five children and works for British Telecom as an engineer.[4]

On 18 November 2005 he attended the founding of Ahlus Sunnah wal Jamaah.[5]

He participated in the Islamist demonstration outside the Danish Embassy in London in 2006, where he chanted "Europe you will pay with your blood"[4] and "Denmark, USA, 7/7 on its way" through a megaphone,[6] and he was charged with using words likely to stir up racial hatred and released on bail to appear at West London Magistrates' Court on 31 March 2006[7] On 1 February 2007, he was found guilty, and will be held until his sentencing in April.[8]

He was found guilty of Incitement to Terrorism Overseas by a unanimous verdict, and found not guilty of Terrorist Fundraising by a majority verdict on 17 April in Kingston Crown Court, for his part on a DVD of the Night of Power, the 27th night of Ramadan in September 2004. He gave a series of speeches at the Regent's Park Mosque, the DVD of which was discovered at the former residence of Omar Bakri in 2006.[9] He was sentenced the following day to three years imprisonment.

References and notes

  1. ↑ "Transplanted Jihadi" Newsweek 19 August 2005
  2. ↑ "Five British volunteers killed in attack on Mazar, says Islamist group" The Guardian 17 November 2001
  3. ↑ "Briton trained by bin Laden recruits in London" The Telegraph 23 September 2001
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 "Cartoon protester guilty of race hate", The Daily Telegraph, 2 February 2007
  5. ↑ "New group replaces al-Muhajiroun" BBC News 29 October 2006
  6. ↑ Focus: How liberal Britain let hate flourish The Sunday Times 12 February 2006
  7. ↑ Man charged over cartoon protest BBC 26 March 2006
  8. ↑ "Protester guilty of race hatred", BBC, 1 February 2007
  9. ↑ "Muslim preacher Abu Izzadeen jailed for four and a half years", Daily Telegraph, 18 April 2008