A FLAT in Exeter city centre is reported to have been used by a radical cleric to direct the Islamist takeover of Tripoli.
Sheikh Sadik al-Ghariani, the most senior religious authority in Libya, is now believed to have fled Britain after it emerged that he was helping to direct the takeover using an internet television station from the flat of a relative in Exeter.
It is understood he has now left the UK for Qatar as Home Office officials began examining broadcasts he had made to Islamist using the station.
The cleric, who had previously studied for a PHD at Exeter University, used the website Tanasuh to celebrate the violent capture of Tripoli by an Islamist militia force, Libya Dawn, and to call for a widening of the rebellion.
The Guardian newspaper is reporting that the Arabic-language website, which is viewed thousands of times a day in Libya, is registered to a close relative Sohayl Elgariani at a white-washed terraced house near Exeter city centre. There was no reply at the house on Sunday.
Neighbours said there had been a stream of visitors to the house. "There are lots of comings and goings there," said one neighbour, who asked not to be named. "I don't get involved. I don't like to know what is going on. I often see them bringing food in boxes. I'm not sure what to think."
In his most recent broadcast he urged Libya Dawn, which has installed an Islamist guerrilla commander as leader, to "use a firm hand to consolidate the victory that they gained on the battlefield," and to oppose "those who are enemies of this victory".
Libya's government has protested that his comments have inflamed the situation in the capital.
↧