Blogging hate preacher gets university ban

AN Islamist preacher who urged Muslims to take up jihad and called for the "humiliation of Jews" has been banned from addressing a student dinner at a London university tonight.

American Anwar al-Awlaki, who the US has accused of using the internet to encourage "terrorist attacks", was due to speak to hundreds over a video link at the sold-out annual dinner of City University's Islamic Society.

But senior university officials warned the student union body that it would be in breach of the organisation's rules if it broadcast al-Awlaki's speech.

The preacher is regarded as being part of a new generation of blogging clerics who spread a message of hate over the internet. His blogs and sermons endorse anti-Semitism and violence against "infidels".

A page dedicated to him on social-networking site Facebook has more than 3,035 fans and tonight's event, called "The Beginning of a New Chapter" and to be held in City University's great hall in Clerkenwell, was sold out in days.