Irish media is reporting that Dr. Ali Selim, an imam tied to the Muslim Brotherhood in Ireland with a history of controversial statements about terrorism, has issued a statement condemning the terrorist attacks in Paris. According to the RTÉ report:
In a statement representing the Irish Council of Imams, Dr Ali Selim said: “Murder, the most horrendous act of terrorism, is strictly forbidden in Islam. In a deterring way Allah states that the murder of one person is as evil as killing all people.”
Dr Selim said the Dublin-based European Council for Fatwa and Research (ECFR) “stresses that these crimes can by no means be classified as a just struggle”.
The ECRF is headquartered in Clonskeagh, south Dublin, at the mosque of the Islamic Cultural Centre in Ireland.
“As it condemns all types of terrorism; state, individual and extremist groups, the ECFR appeals to the entire world to live in peace, respect human rights and shun violence and create a just society where atrocities like these can not flourish.”
“We share the shock and the horror of what was shown on the internet and television.”
Ali Selim is the private secretary to Hussein Halawa, the imam of the Islamic Cultural Centre of Ireland, closely tied to the European Muslim Brotherhood, and is described as am ICCI “resident theologian.” Mr. Selim attracted a great deal of local media attention in September 2006 when he told a newspaper interviewer that, ideally, he would like to see Shariah law adopted in Ireland in the “event of a Muslim majority.” Along the same lines, Mr. Selim said in 2006 that religious law should be imposed over secular law if that was wished by the majority. Other controversial statements by Mr. Selim include:
- Suggesting that there were conspiratorial forces behind the 911 attacks saying “history, definitely, will prove to us that those people were not the only ones involved in 9/11. That, in actual fact, there’s a wider circle that’s under the shade so we can’t see it at the moment. “
- Saying he had seen no proof that Muslims carried out the July 2006 London bombings, suggesting that videotapes of the bombers might have been faked and that he was not aware that they were identified by their own families.
- Claiming he was unaware of any Muslims calling for Jihad against the West
- Saying that he had “no opinion” about Osama Bin Laden
In September 2012, the GMBDW reported that Dr. Selim, had made comments praising the concept of “martyrdom.”
In February 2010, we reported on Dr. Selim in connection with statements by Irish Muslim Brotherhood leaders saying that a ban on face veils violates personal freedoms.