Al-Qaeda audio tapes withdrawn from East End public library

12 January 2010

By Johnny McDevitt

A COUNTER-extremism think tank has called for an investigation into an East London public library after 200 cassette tapes of sermons by al-Qaeda cleric Anwar al-Awlaki were found to be stocked on its shelves.

The Whitechapel Ideas Store removed 285 audio books after a Sunday newspaper report that they were available to borrowers.

The Quilliam Foundation criticised Tower Hamlets Council this week for buying the tapes in the first place.

A Quilliam spokesperson told the East London Advertiser today: “One or two Awlaki tapes might have been an oversight.

“But having 258 tapes means there is need for a full investigation into what went wrong.

“It is a disgrace that a publicly-funded library should have been distributing sermons from the main English-language proponent of al-Qaeda style Islamist extremism.”

The Yemeni-American cleric is thought to have inspired Umar Abdulmutallab, a Nigerian national who was arrested for attempting to detonate a bomb on a Detroit-bound plane on Christmas Day.

Abdulmutallab, who also is believed to have worshiped at the East London Mosque just a few hundred yards from the library, referred to Al-Awlaki, who is banned from Britain, as his spiritual mentor and inspiration.

Most of the tapes have now been returned and taken off the shelves, but several copies are still out on loan.

A Tower Hamlets spokesperson said: “We have removed all titles by the author from our Idea Stores and libraries, as part of our ‘No Place for Hate’ pledge and commitment to promote community cohesion.

“As far as we are aware, these materials have not yet been banned or judged to be illegal in the UK, or they would not have been on the library shelves.”

The tapes were bought in 2004 when ordering was delegated to local library managers, the Town Hall pointed out. Since 2006, this process has been centralised.