MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD LINK TO MANCHESTER BOMBER’S IMAM
▶ Preacher accused of inciting violence flaunts alliance with key member of extremist group
A controversial imam, who preached at the same mosque attended by the Manchester bomber, also had links with a Muslim Brotherhood member in the Libyan government and the former Grand Mufti of Libya, who has shown support for extremist groups.
It was discovered last week that Mustafa Graf, an imam at Didsbury Mosque in Manchester, had appeared to call for armed struggle in Syria and Iraq in 2016, although he denies the accusation. Salman Abedi, who blew himself up at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester last year and killed 22 people, was a regular at the mosque.
Mr Graf is believed to know Mohamed Amari Zayed, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood and part of the UNbacked Presidency Council of Libya, which is supposed to pave the way for a new government. The preacher appeared in photos with Mr Amari Zayed at a 2015 conference in Brussels, according to Libyan news site Al Marsad, which obtained the images and shared them with The National.
Mr Amari Zayed has previously voiced support for the Benghazi Defence Brigades, a militant group linked to Ansar Al Sharia in Libya and Al Qaeda.
Mr Graf also spoke at Didsbury Mosque alongside the controversial former Grand Mufti of Libya, Sheikh Sadiq Al Ghariani, who has previously shown admiration for the Benghazi Revolutionaries Shura Council, an extremist coalition that held Libya’s second city until last year. Deceased BRSC field commander Wissam bin Hamid had previously appeared speaking in front of an ISIS flag.
One faction of the BRSC was Ansar Al Sharia, who are widely believed to have been behind the 2012 murder of US ambassador Christopher Stephens in Benghazi. Mr Ghariani is designated a terrorist by countries including Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Egypt. He previously condemned US air strikes on the Libyan city of Sirte in 2016 when it was held by ISIS.
Mr Graf has often appeared on the Ghariani-owned Tanasuh TV and the Turkey-based Al Nabaa, using the platforms and social media to repeatedly attack Dr Aref Nayed, the former Libyan ambassador to the UAE and now a presidential candidate. Dr Nayed is vehemently opposed to the Brotherhood and extremist groups.
Mr Ghariani is believed to be in Tajoura, a suburb of the Libyan capital of Tripoli. A coalition of groups and militants in Tajoura who Mr Ghariani supports attacked a prison at Metiga airport in Tripoli run by a powerful brigade nominally operating under the UN-backed government’s interior ministry.
Prison inmates include ISIS fighters and Hashem Abedi, the brother of the Manchester bomber, who is accused of supporting terrorism.
The Didsbury Mosque has previously insisted it and Mr Graf do not support terrorism. Despite several attempts to contact the mosque, no one was available for comment.