Radical cleric who 'influenced 7/7 bombers' wants UK return and praises White Widow jihadist

EXCLUSIVE: Radical cleric who 'influenced 7/7 bombers' wants UK return and praises White Widow jihadistShaikh Abdullah al Faisal - who was booted out of the UK in 2007 after terror convictions - is still able to communicate with the outside world from his cell in a maximum-security prison in New YorkNewsDan Warburton Senior News Reporter16:22, 18 Apr 2026Updated 16:26, 18 Apr 2026View 7 ImagesShaikh Abdullah al Faisal was previously jailed in the UK for stirring up racial hatred and soliciting murder before he was deported(Image: IAN WALDIE)A preacher said to have brainwashed the 7/7 bombers has praised the White Widow - despite being locked up in a maximum-security jail.‌Shaikh Abdullah al Faisal, 62, is currently held in a New York penal facility as he serves an 18-year sentence for being an ISIS fixer. The firebrand jihadist - named in a Home Office report as having “strongly influenced” terrorist Germaine Lindsay - was deported from the UK in 2007 after serving a seven-year sentence for inciting murder.‌In 2023 US prosecutors described him as one of the "world's most influential English-speaking terrorists" after he was jailed for "drawing hundreds of recruits to terror". His disciples are said to include some of the world's most notorious extremists including shoe bomber Richard Reid, 52, and Zacarias Moussaoui, 57, the infamous 20th 9/11 hijacker.‌View 7 ImagesAbdullah al Faisal was jailed in 2023 in the US for terror offences after he offered to set up an undercover detective with a ISIS fighterBut Jamaican-born Faisal is still sharing his views from behind bars. In messages to the Mirror from Attica jail, Faisal warned that ISIS and Al Qaeda were radicalising a new generation of extremists.He openly praised the White Widow jihadist Samantha Lewthwaite - who became the subject of an Interpol Red Notice after masterminding the 2013 Westgate Mall attack in Kenya - describing her as "very kind". And today a survi...