London, July 12 (Reuters): Did Britain’s past tolerance towards high-profile Islamist militants help sow the seeds for last week’s London bombings?

Critics say a long tradition of granting asylum to West Asia dissidents at risk of jail, torture or death in their own countries helped foster the emergence of a dangerously radical Islamist scene.

This earned the British capital the nickname “Londonistan” in some foreign intelligence circles ? an ironic tag with connotations of central and south Asian militancy. “At the end of the day, Britain’s attachment to tolerance has brought it nothing but death and desolation,” said European security analyst Claude Moniquet, describing London as “the world capital of militant ? and even armed ? Islamism”.

Home secretary Charles Clarke described as “total nonsense” the idea that Britain had granted safe haven to extremists. But it was not until after the September 11 attacks on the US in 2001 that Britain clamped down on outspoken Arab radicals who had for years been calling for jihad, or holy war, against the West. The best known was Abu Hamza al-Masri, a firebrand Muslim preacher with an eye-patch and a hook for an arm he lost while fighting Soviet troops in Afghanistan.

A notorious figure in the British media, he was last week appearing in pre-trial hearings in court, accused of incitement to murder, even as the country reeled from attacks that killed at least 52 people and were blamed by the government on al Qaida-type militants.

Why did the authorities appear for so long to tolerate Masri’s inflammatory preaching? One reason may be that he provided an easy surveillance target and acted as a magnet for radicals who were drawn to his Finsbury Park mosque, making it easier for the security services to keep tabs on potential troublemakers.

“There is a lot of intelligence benefit from those people living in the UK,” said Mustafa Alani, a security analyst with the Gulf Research Center in Dubai who lived in London from 1975 until last year.

He said it was highly doubtful whether militant “big mouths”, well known to the British authorities, were involved in building cells for al Qaida.

“Those people under the security services’ watch, al Qaida will never, ever touch those people. Al Qaida will keep 1,000 miles’ distance... al Qaida are not that stupid.”

Until last week, Britain had not suffered a militant Islamist attack on its own soil and police say surveillance operations have enabled them to thwart a number of plots. But a number of British-based Islamists took part in attacks elsewhere, or stand accused of involvement.

Accused September 11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui had lived in London and visited Masri’s Finsbury Park mosque. Convicted “shoebomber” Richard Reid, who tried to blow up an airliner over the Atlantic, was a British convert to Islam.

Critics argue that new anti-terrorist laws enacted in Britain since September 11 came too late, even if they finally resulted in arrests of some leading militant figures.