A London preacher and his friend sparked outrage today by praising a fanatic who murdered a Pakistani politician for criticising the country’s strict Islamic laws.
Former imam Qari Mahmood, 38, and Khalid Iqbal Malik, 43, who attend Lea Bridge Road mosque in Leyton, hailed killer Mumtaz Qadri “a hero” and “a martyr”.
Qadri was convicted of killing Punjab governor Salman Taseer after shooting him 28 times over his support for liberal reforms of blasphemy laws in 2011.
In an online video published last month, hours after Qadri’s funeral following his state execution, Mr Mahmood, of Waltham Forest, hails him “a hero” and blesses his “martyrdom”.
He adds: “We are praying to Allah that he will grant us the same martyrdom... this is a man who loves God and his Prophet.
“People are crying for him and praying for him.... and you can see how moving the funeral is... God help us to take his mission forward.”
The video appeared on online media channel Zara Sochoo — run by Mr Malik — which has more than 60,000 followers.
When asked why the clip was put on the channel’s Facebook page, Mr Malik also hailed Qadri a “martyr”.
He said he did not recall the video but added: “He [Qadri] did a great act. It was not murder because, you know, not everyone’s opinions are the same.
“Mumtaz Qadri was a great religious person. In front of him, someone said to his Holy Prophet something [bad] like that, so he shot him.”
Waltham Forest council is investigating and councillor Ahsan Khan has stepped down from his cabinet role after it emerged he had organised a mini ceremony on January 28 at which Mr Malik was presented with a community award for building up a large online following.
Mr Malik was handed a crest bearing the borough’s coat of arms by mayor Saima Mahmud.
During the ceremony, councillor Khan praised the cleric for the channel’s “good content” and for it getting “over 500,000 hits across Europe”.
Other videos on Mr Malik’s news channel include two Muslim men fighting each other topless, which he said is a traditional “game”, and a man beating a dog.
Hannah Stuart, an extremism researcher at the Henry Jackson Society think tank, said: “To call Qadri a martyr is to continue to justify fanatical vigilantism as religious duty.”
Father-of-three Mr Mahmood claimed he had been “misinterpreted”, adding: “I do not condone any form of violence or extremism... My praise for Mumtaz Qadri was in the gallant way he accepted the court verdict of his death by hanging.
“My sympathy is with him with respect to him being subject to a brutal form of capital punishment which I believe should no longer be practised.”
Mr Malik added by email: “The views expressed on the media channel Zara Sochoo are likely the views of the speakers or individuals or organisations.
“They do not necessarily represent my personal views or opinions. I condemn all forms of terrorism and violence.”
He said he was not personally responsible for all the channel’s content.
A council spokesman said the mayor gave Mr Malik “a memento” at the event organised by Councillor Khan.
He added: “Qari Mahmood’s video which was later published by Mr Malik after it appeared online in March is clearly of huge concern and the matter has been referred to our monitoring officer so that a full and independent investigation can be carried out.”
He said Councillor Khan had stepped down from his health and wellbeing cabinet role to aid the investigation.
“Both he and the mayor have stated they do not support the views of Mr Malik or Mr Mahmood and consider any such intolerance unacceptable and irresponsible,” he added.
Mayor Mahmud’s role will also be investigated. There is no suggestion she did anything more than present the crest.
Junaid Alam, one of three imams at Lea Bridge Road mosque, said Mr Mahmood and Mr Malik’s comments were “against Islam” and had never been made in the presence of the Sunni mosque.