Imam with shoe bomber link suspended

A Muslim preacher at the jail where shoe bomber Richard Reid converted to Islam has been suspended from the prison.

Abdul Rahman Qureshi, an imam who led prayers and discussion groups at Feltham young offenders' institution, is accused of stoking anti-American feeling among inmates after the 11 September attacks.

Reid, 28, was caught trying to detonate explosives packed into his trainers on a US-bound flight on Saturday.

Mr Qureshi allegedly distributed anti-US, pro-Taliban leaflets and delivered inflammatory sermons at the west London jail. He had been the imam at Feltham for three years, visiting at least once a week to instruct about 100 Muslim inmates.

He is one of three imams to have been suspended by the Prison Service since 11 September out of the 130 working in the prison system, it was revealed today. The imam of Belmarsh Prison in south London was suspended days after the attacks. In October the imam at Aylesbury Young Offenders' Institution in Buckinghamshire was suspended.

The imams are accused of making "inappropriate comments" said a Prison Service spokeswoman.

Prison Service directorgeneral Martin Narey said: "We have made it very plain to all our imams that there are certain comments about being critical of the USA or in praise of what's happened on 11 September which are utterly unacceptable."

Mr Narey added: " Overwhelmingly, imams make a huge contribution."

There are an estimated 4,000 Muslims among the 68,000 prisoners currently behind bars.

Officers at Feltham reportedly heard Mr Qureshi making overtly political anti-American statements, talking about "the big devil America". Anti-US literature was also found in cells, describing the US as "the great evil which must be wiped out". Reid convertedto Islam while in Feltham in the mid-Nineties. Dr Zaki Badawi, chairman of the Imams and Mosques Council UK and also chairman of the Muslim Prisoners' Commission, said he is launching a full investigation into the allegations concerning the three suspended imams.

Dr Badawi said that if they were found to have made overtly political statements they would be dismissed.

"They are there to help the spiritual needs of the inmates. The inmates are in their hands and they shouldn't exploit that position.

? Abdul Haqq Baker, chairman of the Brixton mosque where Reid worshipped, says he has tapes of extremists calling for the execution of Muslims who condemn terrorism.