12/08/2005

Bakri Mohammed barred from the UK

Radical Muslim cleric Omar Bakri Mohammed will not be allowed to return to Britain, the Home Office has announced.

Bakri Mohammed left the UK last week and went to Lebanon allegedly on holiday to visit his mother. He said that he planned to return to the UK, where he has lived for twenty years, after seeking political asylum in the mid-Eighties.

However, on Friday the Home Office confirmed that Bakri Mohammed would not be allowed to return to Britain, stating that Home Secretary Charles Clarke has used existing powers to exclude him from the UK because “his presence is not conducive to the public good”.

However, the Home Office said the decision would not affect Mr Bakri’s family, who would continue to receive state benefits. His wife and seven children live in north London.

The radical cleric, who is the founder member of the now disbanded group al Muhajiroun, caused outrage in Britain after the July 7 bombings, when he said that he would not inform police of terror attacks planned by British Muslims.

His departure from the UK came just one day after Prime Minister Tony Blair announced a series of new measures aimed at tackling extremists who appeared to condone terrorism.

Bakri Mohammed was arrested in Lebanon on Thursday, following a television interview. However, it is understood that he was arrested on a routine matter, regarding the circumstances of his entry to Lebanon and he was expected to be released on Friday.

It has also been reported that Syria has requested Lebanon to hand the cleric over to them, in connection with previous crimes he was allegedly convicted of in the country.

On Thursday, 10 foreign nationals were detained in the UK, because they were deemed to pose a threat to national security. Another radical cleric, Abu Qatada, is among those detained and he is facing deportation to his native Jordan. It was reported on Friday that he could be deported as early as next week.

(KMcA/SP)


Related UK National News Stories
Click here for the latest headlines.

09 August 2005
Islamic cleric ‘will return’ to UK
Radical Muslim cleric Omar Bakri Mohammed has claimed that he will return to Britain from Lebanon, unless the UK government says it does not want him to come back. The Syrian-born cleric told the BBC that he left the UK for Lebanon at the weekend on a holiday to visit his mother and was planning to return to the UK in four or five weeks.
12 January 2010
Fundamental Islam Group Banned
A radical Islamic group that planned to protest through Wootton Bassett will be banned under anti-terror legislation. Home Secretary Alan Johnson has moved to outlaw the Islam4UK group, which said its forfeited march in the Wiltshire town would honour Muslims killed during the Afghanistan war.
28 October 2008
Tough Measures Banning 'Preachers Of Hate' Introduced
Tougher measures that would prevent extremists from entering Britain have been outlined by the Home Secretary today. The new rules, announced by Jacqui Smith, will make it easier to exclude those who would enter the UK with the intentions of stirring up religious or racial hatred.
12 April 2011
Doubts Over 'Libyan IRA Atrocities Deal'
A Northern Ireland pressure group acting for victims of the Troubles has welcomed news that strife-torn Libya has agreed a deal for victims to be compensated for multiple atrocities carried out by the IRA throughout the UK.
12 May 2004
Expanded UK Film Centre promotes UK industry at Cannes
The UK Film Centre, which promotes the UK film industry in the international marketplace, will be providing an expanded range of business services in its second year of operation at the world’s biggest film festival.