Terror supporters may face treason charges

Islamic extremists who have voiced support for terror could be charged with treason, the Crown Prosecution Service has said.

The CPS's head of anti-terrorism will meet senior officers at Scotland Yard this week, the attorney general's office confirmed.

They will discuss possible charges against Omar Bakri Mohammed, who has said he would not inform police if he knew Muslims were plotting a bomb attack, Abu Izzadeen, who told Newsnight the 7 July bombs will make people "wake up and smell the coffee" and Abu Uzair, who called 11 September "magnificent".

Prosecutors may also seek access to tapes made by the undercover Sunday Times reporter who recorded members of the radical Saviour Sect praising the 7 July bombers as "the fantastic four".

Possible charges which will be considered include the common-law offences of treason, incitement to treason, solicitation of murder and incitement to withhold information known to be of use to police.

Muslim representatives responded angrily. Shaykh Muhammad Umar, the chairman of the Ramadhan Foundation, which addresses the educational needs of Muslims in the UK, said: "The solution is not to ban these organisations, it is to engage with them. We need to have dialogue with these groups, not alienate them. If you start banning them and putting them in prison we're not going to get anywhere."

Criticising the ban on two radical Islamist groups, Hizb-ut-Tahrir and al-Muhajiroun, Ramadhan Foundation spokesman Mohammed Shafiq said: "Banning the more radical views from this country will simply send those groups underground; it won't get rid of them".

He was speaking at the Muslim Unity Convention 2005, held at Manchester's Bridgewater Hall.

- INDEPENDENT