10NEWS
To the families of the 22 people killed
in the Manchester Arena bombing,
Mohammed El-Saeiti is a hero.
The former imam broke ranks in his
community when he spoke about the
extremist elements he had witnessed
over his decade working at Didsbury
mosque, where the bomber, Salman
Abedi, worshipped.
However, not everyone was happy
when he spoke out at the Manchester
public inquiry into Abedi’s terrorist
attack at a pop concert in 2017.
A week after he gave evidence, El-
Saeiti was confronted in the street out-
side his home by three men who threat-
ened him. One told him in no uncertain
terms what the consequences would be if
he continued to speak out. “You’ll be
dead,” he told the terrified imam.
El-Saeiti noticed that one of the men,
who appeared to be Libyan, was wearing
a backpack and had his hand in his
pocket. He believes the man’s stance was
deliberately calculated to invoke that ofsuicide bomber Abedi, also of Libyan
descent, who died after detonating the
bomb in his rucksack at the Ariana
Grande concert using a trigger held in
his pocket.
By the time six police cars arrived in
response to a 999 call by El-Saeiti, the
three men had fled.
Since then, the former imam has
become increasingly fearful for his life.
“After he gave evidence to the inquiry,
he had Facebook threats and physical
threats,” said a friend of El-Saeiti. “The
three individuals who approached him
have been watching his house in Man-
chester and following him.”
El-Saeiti has been followed to the
mosque where he worships by the same
men, the friend claims. “The mosque
checked its CCTV cameras and the men
were on there, standing on a street cor-
ner, waiting for him to come out.”
Two risk assessments carried out on
El-Saeiti’s safety by anti-terrorism police
have concluded that his life is in danger.
They are currently assisting him as he
moves out of his house in Manchester to aThe men
were
waiting
for himsecret location. Counter Terrorism Polic-
ing North West, the region’s anti-terror-
ism unit, is attempting to trace the three
men suspected of stalking and threaten-
ing El-Saeiti and is examining a number
of threats over social media.
The friend, who did not wish to be
named, said ill feeling towards El-Saeiti at
the mosque had begun before the attack,
after the imam “gave a lecture warning
against extremism and violence in
Libya”.
In the October 2014 address, El-Saeiti
warned worshippers against fighting and
enmity between people. He discouraged
violence and warned it was a “transgres-
sion [against] lives and wealth and hon-
our ... this is the first and most important
warning given to us by our Prophet ...
before he passed away”.
He spoke against “ghastly crimes done
by fanatics”, referring to terrorist groups
Isis and al-Qaeda, as well as Ansar
al-Sharia, a group operating in Benghazi,
Libya.
“Mohammed [El-Saeiti] openly lev-
elled at those groups in Libya and every-David Collins Northern EditorDeath threats
for imam who
took on fanatics
— and earned
bomber’s ire
A cleric who testified to the Manchester Arena inquiry
about extremism in his mosque and clashed with the
family of Salman Abedi has been forced to flee the city
where else,” the friend said. After that,
when they saw him at the mosque, the
bomber Abedi and members of his family
had “looked at Mohammed [El-Saeiti]
with hate”, the friend said.
On one occasion, according to wit-
nesses, Salman and his younger brother,
Hashem, sat close to his pulpit, and Sal-
man fixed him with an angry stare
throughout his sermon.
Abedi’s older brother, Ismail, “had an
argument with him about his stand
against extremism”, while Abedi’s father,
Ramadan, wrote on Facebook that the
“congregation should expel him from the
mosque”. A petition to expel El-Saeiti
was signed by 91 people including Ismail
and Hashem Abedi.
Ramadan, who used to carry out the
call to prayer, also messaged El-Saeiti to
remonstrate with him for speaking
“about the brothers of Ansar al-Sharia”,
which has been linked to al-Qaeda. He
added: “I know them, they are good peo-
ple.”
El-Saeiti replied that the group was an
internationally recognised terrorist orga-nisation that beheaded civilians and car-
ried out suicide bombings.
After the Manchester bombing, El-
Saeiti told the inquiry that extremist ser-
mons had been delivered at Didsbury
mosque by Mustafa Graf, another imam,
who is of Libyan heritage.
El-Saeiti told the inquiry that Graf was
“praying for the groups, for the terrorist
groups in Benghazi”, adding: “He was
praying for their victory, while they were
beheading civilians and beheading inno-
cent people.”
He said Graf referenced “jihad” and
“mujahidin” and reportedly said: “Jihad
for the sake of Allah is the source of pride
and dignity for this nation” — although
the mosque insisted the word jihad in
this context meant “struggle”, not
“fight”.
El-Saeiti won praise from the families
of the victims of the Manchester Arena
bombing for his “brave” account, but his
friends claim not everyone at his mosque
shared their view.
The mosque, on Burton Road in
West Didsbury, decided to terminateMohammed
El-Saeiti, below,
was threatened a
week after he
gave evidence to
the inquiry into
the attack,
carried out by
Salman Abedi,
above right