A member of Crawley’s Muslim community has condemned the actions of the Langley Green dad-of-three suspected of carrying out a suicide bombing in Syria.
Islamic opinion is divided on whether Abdul Waheed Majeed is a terrorist or a hero for the attack he appears to have carried out.
His brother appeared on BBC2 news show Newsnight last month to declare that Majeed would have been given the Victoria Cross had it been British citizens, rather than Syrians, that he had been seeking to free from a prison in the city of Aleppo.
But other members of Majeed’s family are understood not to share this viewpoint, even hoping that he is still alive and will return home.
Now Ammer Yasir, who like Majeed once worshipped at Langley Green Mosque, has become one of the first Muslims in Crawley to publicly condemn the act.
He said: “My concerns are that the community leaders in Crawley are not being frank and are not condemning a terrorist act.
“When I heard his brother say he would have been awarded the Victoria Cross that really disgusted me.
“I thought if I don’t do anything [and speak out], God is watching.
“It’s an act of terrorism. You can’t just blow yourself up. A terrorist act cannot be justified at all.”
Mr Yasir fears some members of the Muslim community are being radicalised in Crawley – and believes condemning Majeed’s suspected actions will help tackle this.
He added: “Some of the Langley Green community are trying to justify it because it was in Syria.
“They are trying to justify an evil action. But you can’t justify it. Evil is evil – it doesn’t matter where it’s committed.”
Majeed, 41, from Martyrs Avenue, Langley Green, is believed to have driven a truck full of explosives into the prison, to free hundreds of people jailed by President Bashar Al-Assad’s regime.
A video emerged in the week after the attack, showing a man resembling Majeed, next to an armoured truck which is then seen driving towards the prison, seconds before a huge explosion.
Mr Yasir said: “I watched the full version of the video. I am 100 per cent positive it was him.
“He’s not coming back. And if he does, I will give you my car, my house, everything.”
Mr Yasir added that people don’t suddenly find themselves in the likes of the al-Qaeda-linked al-Nusra Front, which is suspected of being behind the Aleppo attack.
“You can’t just walk into these groups,” he said. “You’ve got to be groomed. It’s a long process.”
Mr Yasir is concerned by Crawley’s renewed links with terrorism.
In 2007 five men were convicted of plotting terror attacks in Britain, including Omar Khyam, Waheed Mahmood and Jawad Akbar, who were all from Langley Green.
Radical cleric Omar Bakri is also reported to have giving sermons in Langley Green in the past.
Mr Yasir, who went to Ifield Community College with Mahmood and knew Majeed growing up in Langley Green, said: “There were the bomb plotters. Omar Bakri was present in Langley Green. Then this issue. And it is not finished.
“Why is Crawley coming up all the time? Why is it coming up if they [community leaders] did the job [of stopping radicalisation]?”
Mr Yasir fears Bakri, who left the UK in 2005 and was later told he could not return, could still have an influence on worshippers in Crawley through online services such as Skype.
He also believes some people, like Majeed, have gone to Syria on the pretence of helping humanitarian aid missions but with other intentions in mind all along.
Mr Yasir said: “There is a difference between going on an aid trip to Syria and if you went to Africa, to save the children.
“Why are they going to Syria? Why there? People are suffering all over the world. Why? Because of jihad.
“Certain individuals went in because they are warm-blooded and wanted to get into the action. They think as if it’s compulsory to take part in jihad.
“It saddens and frustrates me that there is a small minority who influence individuals to carry out attacks, when Islam is a peaceful religion.”