Extremist admits link to Breivik

A former activist in the far-right English Defence League admitted for the first time yesterday that his strident anti-Muslim ideology was an inspiration to Norwegian mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik.

Paul Ray, leader of a revived Knights Templar movement based on the medieval crusades to the Holy Land, concedes that his Richard the Lionhearted blog informed Breivik's exhaustive Islamophobic diatribe, published online to justify the massacre of 76 people on July 22.

Mr Ray, 35, who fled Bedfordshire, England, fearing arrest for inciting racial hatred, acknowledged in an exclusive interview with The Times in Malta yesterday that he had been in direct contact with Breivik online but insisted he had rejected his attempts to enlist him as a friend on Facebook.

The Norwegian mass murderer, who dressed up in Knights Templar costume, described an individual similar to Mr Ray as his mentor, claiming to have met him at an event in London in 2002, prompting the Briton to say yesterday that the "whole world is painting me as his inspiration".

Speaking in Valletta, he said: "I am being implicated as his mentor. I definitely could have been his inspiration. It looks like that. He has given me a platform and a profile. But what he did was pure evil. I could never use what he has done to further my own beliefs.

"Breivik has dressed himself up in that garb but what he has done does not equate to anything I am involved in."

He said he had rejected Breivik's request to be Facebook friends because he "'didn't like the look of him".

The admissions do not support Breivik's claim he was part of a network of latter-day crusaders. Norwegian authorities believe he acted alone and was not part of a cell.

But there is evidence that Mr Ray does have links to neo-Nazis willing to defend Europe from Islamification. The Times has discovered a photograph of Mr Ray holding an AK47 rifle in Palestine. He is also a close friend of Nick Greger, a tattooed German neo-Nazi, known to his associates as Nazi Nick, who was jailed for two years in 2002 after telling the authorities he intended to blow up cars belonging to leftwingers with a pipe-bomb.

Mr Greger, the former Nazi co-founder of his crusader group, has a link to Liberia, the African country where Breivik claims he went to get guidance from a fugitive Serbian war criminal wanted for atrocities against Balkan Muslims.

Mr Ray, who believes there is a "threat to our way of life from Islam", refused to rule out using violence in support of his beliefs and said it was "inevitable" there would be further violent clashes between Muslims and Christians.

Mr Ray was arrested in Britain in 2008 over blog postings allegedly inciting racial hatred but said he was never charged. He left the country the same year.

"That was the sacrifice I made," said Mr Ray, who added he had Maltese residency and lived modestly, making a little money from buying and selling computers.

"I had my reasons to leave the country. I just want to live in peace and security but I can't do that in England."

He added: "On my blog, I am just pointing out the facts. I wish the police would come and talk to me because I've got nothing to hide. But I would rather go to Norway. Knights Templar has been tainted and I am stating the case for the defence."


source: www.theaustralian.com.au

tags: breivik, norway, oslo
Extremist admits link to Breivik Extremist admits link to Breivik Reviewed by afree on 10:54 PM Rating: 5

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