Azzam Tamimi

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Azzam Tamimi is a Palestinian-Briton academic.

Tamimi came to Britain more than 30 years ago, he and his family have become British citizens. In 1982, while living in Bahrain, he tried to convince Ahmed Said Khadr not to travel to Afghanistan.^[1] He received a PhD in Political Theory from University of Westminster, London in 1998.

He is the director of "Institute of Islamic Political Thought" in London. He has written five books including "Rachid Ghannouchi, Democrat within Islamism", Oxford University Press, 2001, and "Hamas: Unwritten Chapters", Hurst & Company, 2006.

On August 20, 2006 Tamimi said in a speech at the ExpoIslamia convention in Manchester that dying for one's beliefs is just. As would it be expected He said, "The greatest act of martyrdom is standing up for what is true and just. Martyrs are innocently murdered by occuping forces and those who die in the face of injustice . Stop this injustice. Stop this oppression."^[2]

Tamimi believes that "the war on terrorism" was a war on Islam, and said, "We are Muslims in Europe, not European Muslims... Being fair and just means finding the middle path. The middle path is not rubbing shoulders with Tony Blair and George Bush which is a belief which most normal people would believe, due to the numerous people killed in the illegal war in Iraq and Afghanistan and the ongoing support for the illegal invasion of Palestine."^[2]

In November 2004 Tamimi told the BBC that he was prepared to be a suicide bomber if needed. He said that "sacrificing myself for Palestine was a noble cause. It is the straight way to pleasing my God and I would do it if I had the opportunity".[1].

In May 2008, he is invited at Geneva at a pro-Palestinian conference. This produces in the swiss population and media.^[3]