The GMBDW is proud to inaugurate a new Humor category with this report by journalist Ben Flanagan who explains how he was involuntarily locked in a room at the Finsbury Mosque by mosque officials. The report, complete with video of the incident, begins:
Finsbury Mosque
August 24, 2014 London’s Finsbury Park Mosque is still struggling to shake off its association with ‘hate preacher’ Abu Hamza – yet it does not seem to be doing itself many favors in the public-relations stakes.
Abu Hamza al-Masri’s sermons attracted the likes of 9/11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui and failed shoe bomber Richard Reid, earning the mosque the reputation as a ‘suicide factory’ and ‘Al-Qaeda camp in the heart of London.’
The dark days of Abu Hamza are long gone: Finsbury Park Mosque came under new management in 2005; its hook-handed former imam was this year convicted of 11 terrorism charges in the United States.
But as the mosque continues to rebuild its reputation, I can offer a few words of PR advice: Generally speaking, it’s best not to lock journalists in rooms against their will, no matter how much their questions may irk you.
Interestingly, as Mr. Flanagan reported, mosque officials appeared rather touchy when asked if the Finsbury Mosque had any links to the Muslim Brotherhood so it may be worth noting that yesterday the foreign relations official of the political arm of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood had this to say about the mosque:
Successive British governments have worked with the Muslim Brotherhood for decades, knowing that the Muslim Brotherhood ideology is reformist, moderate and tolerant. This is why Abu-Hamza’s mosque (in London) was handed over to the Muslim Brotherhood.
In April 2013, the GMBDW reported that a Saudi newspaper had published an article detailing how the Finsbury mosque was taken over by the U.K Muslim Brotherhood.
In July, the GMBDW was the first to report the HSBC Bank had closed several accounts tied to the Muslim Brotherhood including that of the Finsbury Mosque.
