Ireland 'a fundamentalist haven'

Sheikh Dr Shaheed Satardien said there was an "ocean of extremism" spreading among Muslims throughout Ireland.

"Irish Muslim leaders are failing our young people who are embracing fundamentalism," he told the Sunday Tribune newspaper.

Northern Ireland Muslim Abdul Al Jibouri said terrorism went totally against the beliefs of Islam.

"It is very hurtful when people start talking about Islam and Muslim terrorists," he told BBC Radio Ulster's Sunday Sequence programme.

"I have lived in Northern Ireland for many years and we had so many terrorists, but nobody said 'Catholic terrorists' or 'Protestant terrorists'."

He added: "Islam does not encourage people to go and blow people up - this is based on fundamentalists and the way they interpret the Koran.

"Terrorism and active terrorism is totally against Islam and I would be the first person to condemn it."

'Foreign travel'

Dublin-based Dr Satardien, who is regarded as a moderate cleric, told the Sunday Tribune young Muslims were "being torn between two cultures, drawing them into support for terrorism, anti-semitism and a hatred of western democracy".

Young Islamic men were spending long periods in locations such as Pakistan where they were taking part in al-Qaeda terrorist training schools, he told the newspaper.

"There is an urgent need for the Irish government to introduce strict guidelines on foreign travel," he said.

"Young people go to foreign places where they are being brainwashed and where they are told to reject moderate Islam."

Dr Satardien also urged Irish authorities to monitor the activities of foreign national Muslim leaders who he said were entering the country to promote radical fundamentalism.

Last December, a man with suspected al-Qaeda links was jailed in Belfast for downloading information on how to blow up a passenger jet.

Abbas Boutrab, from Algeria, was arrested in Newtownabbey, near Belfast, over suspected immigration offences.

Police later found computer disks with downloaded bomb-making instructions. He was sentenced to six years in prison.