CONGRESSIONAL LEADERS URGE BLAIR TO BAN QARADAWI

U.S. Congressman Brad Sherman (D-CA) and other leaders on Capitol Hill are adding their voices to the growing international outcry urging UK Prime Minister Tony Blair's government to ban Sheik Yussuf Al-Qaradawi from re-entering Britain. In a letter to PM Blair, which was also circulated to his colleagues in the House, he first expressed continued solidarity to the people of Britain reeling from terrorist attacks from Islamists.

The letter went on to ask that the Prime Minister bar Sheik Yussuf Al-Qaradawi from re-entering the United Kingdom. "Al-Qaradawi is scheduled to appear at a conference to be held in Manchester on August 7," wrote the Congressman. "His presence there and in the United Kingdom generally would run counter to the efforts of moderate Muslims to condemn violence and marginalize those who advocate terror in the name of their faith. It would also insult the memory of those killed in these attacks."

Congressman Sherman went on to say that the "…Qatar-based cleric encourages terrorism through his support of Palestinian suicide operations against Israeli civilians. He told the BBC in 2004 he ‘considers this type of martyrdom operation as an evidence of God's justice.’"

Sherman also reminded Blair that Qaradawi is not allowed to enter the United States due to his support for terror.

"At this pivotal moment in the war against terrorism in Britain and around the world, we applaud Congressman Sherman and his colleagues for taking a leadership role in urging a unified stance against all suicide terrorism, whatever the cause and whoever the target," said Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean of the Wiesenthal Center.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center is one of the largest international Jewish human rights organizations with over 400,000 member families in the United States. It is an NGO at international agencies including the United Nations, UNESCO, the OSCE, and the Council of Europe

Last week the Center gathered over 12,000 signatures in an online petition campaign calling on the Blair government to ban Qaradawi. The petition can be read by following this link.

For more information, please contact the Center's Public Relations Department, 310 553-9036.

To read Congressman Brad Sherman's press release, use this link.