At the ExpoIslamia convention in Manchester today, billed as “A Call to Humanity,” featured speaker Azzam Tamimi expressed support for Hizballah and Hamas, and extolled the virtues of death: Firebrand Islamic academic: ‘dying for your beliefs is just’.

A British-based Muslim radical appeared to back suicide bombing yesterday when he claimed that dying for your beliefs was ‘just’.

Dr Azzam Tamimi told an 8,000-strong crowd that standing up for your principles was the ‘greatest act of martyrdom’. The 51-year-old was speaking at the ExpoIslamia convention in Manchester. The Palestinian-born academic - who previously boasted he would carry out a suicide bombing in Israel - also repeated his public backing for Hamas, which remains banned in the UK.

He said: “The greatest act of martyrdom is standing up for what is true and just. Martyrs are those who stand up and stand up in defiance of George Bush and Tony Blair. You stand up to them and you say desist. Stop this injustice. Stop this oppression.”

Dr Tamimi claimed the war on terrorism was a war on Islam. “We are Muslims in Europe, not European Muslims,” he added.

“Being fair and just means finding the middle path. The middle path is not rubbing shoulders with Tony Blair and George Bush.”

The crowd erupted with cheering and applause when he said that Israel had been defeated by Hezbollah.

He continued: “Hamas is making sacrifices for you. We tell this government Hamas is not a terrorist group. It is elected by the people of Palestine. We are not terrorists. We are defenders of the truth. Fighting those who invade Muslims is a just cause. The government is trying to turn the war on terror into the war on Islam.”