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Omar Bakri Mohammed
Preacher of hate vows: I'll be back
9/ 8/2005
ONE of the Islamic extremists who faces possible treason charges over support for the London bombers plans to return to Britain, he said today.
Omar Bakri Mohammed, spiritual leader of the al-Muhajiroun group - which is to be banned under anti-terror laws unveiled by the Prime Minister on Friday - said he would return to London in four weeks.
Bakri, investigated by police over his allegedly inflammatory language but never charged, is in the Lebanese capital Beirut.
He fled from London on Saturday after it emerged he would face possible treason charges over support for the London bombings.
He said he had travelled to Lebanon of his own free will to visit family but planned to return in four weeks.
"I am going to return in four weeks unless the government say we are not welcome, because my family is in the UK," he said.
"I left by my own passport. I do not think I will have any problem returning back to the UK but I do not want the government to use the presence of Omar Bakri to change the rules."
He said he believed the government was using him to put pressure on the Muslim community.
"I wish for the British people to think about Islam. I wish as well that this government will go back to its own sense, not changing its values because they do not know who committed the bombings in London."
Bakri denied he had called the July 7 bombers the "Fantastic Four" and said he condemned the atrocity.
Innocent
"I never, ever spoke about the bombings in London," he said. "Fantastic Four is a film, nothing to do with the bombings. I never, ever talked about the bombings except to condemn the killing of innocent people."
The radical cleric sparked outrage last week when he said he would not inform police if he knew Muslims were planning a bomb attack on a train in Britain and supported Muslims who attacked British troops in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Asked whether he would inform police if he knew a Muslim was planning to commit a crime, he said his faith did not allow him to do so. "I will never report to the police any Muslim because Islam forbids me," he said. "Definitely I would stop him whatever the cost, even if it cost me my life. That is my duty as a Muslim.
"I believe Islam is superior and nothing supersedes it, but we can live with you in harmony. I want for everybody to cool down."
Meanwhile, a senior UN official warned today that Mr Blair's plans to deport radical Islamic extremists would fall foul of international human rights law.
Manfred Novak, the UN's torture specialist, dismissed the Prime Minister's plans to seek assurances from countries such as Lebanon and Algeria that suspects sent back there would not be ill-treated as worthless.
Mr Blair announced last week that the government hoped to sign memoranda of understanding with up to 10 countries, having already agreed one with Jordan.
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11/08/2005 at 12:25
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11/08/2005 at 13:18
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