A jihadist rallying cry....

I'm delighted he's lost some weight in prison....let's hope he loses a few more hundred....

Extremist cleric Abu Qatada has issued a 6,000-word statement to his followers from inside one of Britain's high security prisons.

The letter was reportedly smuggled out of Long Lartin high-security jail, Worcestershire, and is circulating on jihadi websites.

The 48-year-old Palestinian preacher praises the Mujahidin and the 'martyrs of Hamas' and claims his treatment is helping to radicalise a new generation of young British Muslims.

In the statement he says: ' A new generation of the Muslim youth has been raised and especially amongst our brothers who originate from the Indian subcontinent, who were no longer mesmerised by the English authority, nor English values - rather they hate it and they know its enmity towards them, so they have become enemies towards it.'

He also boasts that prison has helped him lose more than 50lb in weight and he has been cured of diabetes and back problems.

The cleric claims that Bilal Abdullah, the NHS doctor jailed for the car bomb attacks in London and Glasgow in 2007, told him he was heavily influenced by his taped sermons.

James Brandon, of the Quilliam Foundation, told the Times: 'It is terrifying that Abu Qatada has been allowed to distribute pro-jihadist texts from within British prisons.

'The very reason that Abu Qatada has been detained is because he has threatened public safety by inciting terrorism and violence.

'Yet the Prison Service appears powerless to prevent him from continuing to incite violence and hatred from behind bars.'