Abdul Rahman Saleem
, (born
Rahman Yahyaei
) also known as
Abu Yahya
, is a British Islamic activist, born around 1975.
Early life and education
[
edit
]
Saleem was born in
Mashhad
,
Iran
in 1975 to a
Punjabi
Sunni
family. He left
Iran
for London in 1979 following the
Iranian Revolution
where he was bullied and discriminated against for his South Asian identity. This provoked his embracement of radical Islam and later he became closely acquainted with Al-Muhajiroun members
Omar Bakri
and
Anjem Choudary
.
[
citation needed
]
Nonetheless, he excelled in his studies, earning 11 A* Grades at
GCSE
and 5 A grades at
A Level
in
English literature
,
Persian
,
Further Mathematics
, Mathematics and
Physics
. Despite this, he opted to attend University in Iran and was granted a placement at
Sharif University of Technology
to study
mechanical engineering
in 1993. He graduated in 1998 and returned to the United Kingdom the following year.
[
citation needed
]
Career
[
edit
]
He is a former
Al Muhajiroun
spokesman,
[1]
[2]
a former member of
the Saved Sect
, and was a prominent member of
al-Maddad
, an organisation that claims to have sent dozens of British Muslims to fight in
Chechnya
and elsewhere. In August 2001, he went to secret camps in Pakistan and Afghanistan and trained in the use of guns and explosives.
[3]
He lives in
Poplar, London
. He is the father of five children and works for
British Telecom
as an engineer.
[4]
On 18 November 2005 he attended the founding of
Ahlus Sunnah wal Jamaah
.
[5]
He participated in the
Islamist demonstration outside the Danish Embassy in London in 2006
, where he chanted "Europe you will pay with your blood"
[4]
and "Denmark, USA,
7/7
on its way" through a megaphone,
[6]
and he was charged with using words likely to stir up racial hatred and released on bail to appear at
West London Magistrates' Court
on 31 March 2006
[7]
On 1 February 2007, he was found guilty, and will be held until his sentencing in April.
[8]
He was found guilty of Incitement to Terrorism Overseas by a unanimous verdict, and found not guilty of Terrorist Fundraising by a majority verdict on 17 April 2008 at
Kingston upon Thames Crown Court
.
[9]
He gave a series of speeches at the
Regent's Park Mosque
, the DVD of which was discovered at the former residence of
Omar Bakri
in 2006.
[10]
He was sentenced the following day to three years imprisonment.
References and notes
[
edit
]
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