"Radical Muslims guilty of firebomb plot on publisher of Mohammed book,"

A radical Muslim who dressed his baby daughter in a hat with “I love al-Qaeda” on it tried to firebomb the home of the publisher of a controversial novel about Mohammed.

Ali Beheshti, 40, along with Abrar Mirza, 22, have admitted conspiracy to recklessly damage property and endanger life after they poured diesel through the letterbox of a publishing house in Islington, North London.

Abbas Taj, 30, a mini-cab driver, was found guilty at Croydon Crown court of conspiracy to firebomb the home of Martin Rynja, the publisher of The Jewel Of Medina.

He was to be the getaway driver, but was stopped in his car and arrested by armed police near Angel Tube station in the early hours in September last year, just after they had set fire to the premises...

Beheshti’s 20-month-old daughter, Farisa, was pictured wearing the hat when he took her along to a protest against Danish cartoons of the prophet Mohammed and proudly called her “the youngest member of al-Qaeda”.

He waved banners vowing to “Massacre those who insult Islam” and promising “Europe, your 9/11 will come!”

During the protests in 2006 he called himself Abu Jihad — meaning holy war.

The three men began their attack when publisher Mr Rynja was preparing to release The Jewel Of Medina, a novel about Mohammed and the life of his child bride, Aisha.

The trio were planning to spend the night at Regent’s Park Mosque, in North London, as part of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, but shortly after arrival they set out with “fire-making equipment” for the home of Mr Rynja.

Diesel bought by Beheshti, from Ilford, East London, stored in a green container inside a white plastic bag, was transferred to the boot of Taj’s Honda Accord at around 10.30pm, the evening before the arson attack.

Taj and Beheshti then drove to pick up Mirza, a mobile phone salesman, from near the Queen’s Road Mosque in Walthamstow, northeast London.

They then drove to their target at 2am.

But while Taj claimed to have “no idea” about the plot and said that he was simply “giving a lift” to the two men, a jury of eight women and four men found otherwise.

On the way to the publisher’s home, Beheshti, a former member of the banned al-Muhajiroun, rallied the spirits of his fellows with the inspiring words,'You know what we gotta do, anyway, innit?'

An old hand in the art of holy war, Beheshti had been involved in the Motoon protests in 2006 when he burned himself attempting to set fire to a picture of George Bush.

This may explain why they decided to use diesel in the Gibson Square operation - they might have hurt themselves if they had used petrol.

According to this BBC video report, The Jewel of Medina will be published in October. Doh!