Sacranie said police have a "duty of care" to protect innocent members of the public and prevent innocent deaths.

CAIRO/LONDON, July 24, 2005 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - British Muslims have expressed their dismay at the mistaken killing of an innocent man by "overzealous" plainclothes police in their massive manhunt for four suspected bombers.

"While we accept that the police are under tremendous pressure to apprehend the criminals who are attempting to cause carnage on the streets of London, it is absolutely vital that utmost care is taken to ensure that innocent people are not killed due to overzealousness," Sir Iqbal Sacranie, Secretary-General of the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB), said in a press release a copy of which was e-mailed to IslamOnline.net.

The MCB, the main representative Muslim body in Britain, has received numerous calls from distressed British Muslims since the grisly killing in Stockwell on Friday, July 22.

"We have also received several reports of young Muslim men who were going about their everyday business being forced to the ground by plainclothes officers and who are now very fearful," Sacranie added.

He said police have a "duty of care" to ensure that they do everything humanly possible to protect innocent members of the public and prevent innocent deaths.

Plainclothes police chased the man onto an underground train after he ignored warnings to stop and shot him five times in the head, by one account, point blank.

Police confirmed on Saturday, July 23, that the man, 27-year-old Brazilian electrician Jean Charles de Menezes, was not connected to failed London bombing attempts on Thursday, July 21.

Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim demanded clarification from Britain while the victim's cousin, Lady Menezes, stressed that something needs to be done about this "injustice".

The killing, in front of shocked passengers on a packed underground train, triggered speculation that traditionally unarmed British police had adopted a shoot-to-kill policy.

"I sent teams to Israel and other countries hit by suicide bombers where we learned a terrible truth," Stevens said.

Massoud Shadjareh of the Islamic Human Rights Commission charged that the killing was the result of British police officers being sent to Israel to receive training on how to prevent suicide bombings.

"It doesn't matter if he was a Muslim or not. He was a human being who did not deserve to be assassinated," he told Reuters.

"This is a recipe for disaster. What sort of police are we going to end up with?"

Former London police chief John Stevens defended the tactics.

"I sent teams to Israel and other countries hit by suicide bombers where we learned a terrible truth," he said.

"There is only one sure way to stop a suicide bomber determined to fulfill his mission -- destroy his brain instantly, utterly. That means shooting him with devastating power in the head, killing him immediately."

Anti-terrorism expert Robert Ayers of the Royal Institute of International Affairs said police have "demonstrated that they are operating on the premise right now that if they suspect that someone is a bomber, and that the public is going to be endangered by him, they have shoot-to-kill orders."

Ahmed Versi, editor of the Muslim News, asserted that young Muslims "worry as they fit the target – being Asian-looking and wearing backpacks and coats."

He went on: "The police have been praised by the Muslim community since 7/7 for being very sensitive. After this shooting Muslims are now very worried."

Peace March

"Young Muslims worry as they fit the target – being Asian-looking and wearing backpacks and coats," said Versi.

In another development, hundreds of British Muslims and Christians marched Saturday through the streets of Leeds in a show of communal solidarity as Britain reels from the spate of bombing attacks.

Carrying a banner with the message "United Together", Leeds residents and community groups from all faiths walked from the Hamara Healthy Living Center in Tempest Road to Leeds Millennium Square in the city center.

Muserat Sujawal, one of the trustees of Hamara, said: "We strongly believe there is a sense of community cohesion across Beeston and the events in London have only made this stronger."

Reverend Bob Shaw said the community is "determined to stick together and to keep working for peace."

A statement issued last week by over forty leading mosque imams, muftis and scholars representing all sections of Muslims in Britain stressed that "there can never be any excuse for taking an innocent life".

The scholars asserted that those behind the July 7 London bombings cannot consider themselves martyrs.

The British Muslim Forum issued on July 18 a fatwa signed by more than 500 British Muslim scholars dismissing suicide bombings as "vehemently prohibited".