AN Islamic academic has told an 8,000-strong crowd at a Muslim rally in Manchester that dying for your beliefs is "just".

Dr Azzam Tamimi, who has previously said he was prepared to be a suicide bomber, described martyrs as those who were "prepared to stand up in defiance of George Bush and Tony Blair". He told the audience they should see themselves as "Muslims in Europe" and not "European Muslims".

Dr Tamimi, a supporter of the Palestinian movement Hamas, was speaking at the ExpoIslamia convention at the Manchester Evening News Arena.

"The greatest act of martyrdom is standing up for what is true and just," he said. Dr Tamimi, 51, was born in Palestine but now lives in London and directs the Institute of Islamic Political Thought. He told his audience that Hamas - which won elections in Palestine but is a proscribed terrorist organisation in Britain - were "defenders of the truth" who made sacrifices for the good of all Muslims.

However, Dr Zakir Naik, described by organisers as "the most sought after Muslim public speaker in the world", criticised the actions of the New York, London and Bombay bombers.

'Justify'

"How can you ever justify killing innocent people?" he said. "But in the same breath as condemning those responsible we must also condemn those responsible for the deaths of thousands of innocent people in Iraq, Afghanistan and Lebanon."

The decision to invite Dr Tamimi to speak had earlier been criticised by leaders of other faith groups, who warned it could destabilise Manchester's traditionally stable inter-faith relations.

Louis Rapaport, president of the Jewish Representative Council, said: "It is not something that I or my community would want to be associated with."

The day-long event at the M.E.N. Arena was the fifth ExpoIslamia to be held in Britain. Other speakers included the secretary general of the Muslim Council of Britain, Dr Muhammad Abdul Bari and former Sunday Express journalist, Yvonne Ridley, a Muslim convert.

The audience were treated to a number of lectures, comedy sketches and music at the day-long event. Habeibur Rahman, central president of Islamic Forum Europe, who organised the day, said it had a number of aims. He said: "We want to highlight the need for building stronger Muslim communities who play a positive role in society.

"We also want to make people aware that they can make a difference and that this society will listen to their problems."

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