The leader of a global Muslim movement has issued a fatwa, or religious edict, that he calls an absolute condemnation of terrorism.
Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri, a former Pakistani lawmaker, says the 600-page fatwa bans suicide bombing "without any excuses, any pretexts, or exceptions".
Tahir-ul-Qadri has issued similar, shorter decrees, but the event in London was publicised by the Quilliam Foundation, a government-funded anti-extremism think tank and drew strong media attention.
The religious scholar is the founder of Minhaj-ul-Quran, a worldwide movement that promotes a non-political, tolerant Islam.
The group has hundreds of thousands of followers around the world, most of them in Pakistan or Pakistanis living in other countries.
AP