Posted on 08/13/2005 7:53:59 AM PDT by Valin
LONDON — Britain's crackdown on Islamic extremism widened Friday as officials barred radical Muslim cleric Omar Bakri Mohammed from returning to the country that has been his home for the past two decades. Bakri's close associate, Anjem Choudary, told The Associated Press that the ban would not silence the cleric, who left Britain for Lebanon after saying he would not tell police if he knew fellow Muslims were planning attacks such as last month's deadly transit bombings in London.
"With the Internet and other means, we can still hear from him wherever he is preaching," Choudary said. "I don't think he will stop his activities."
Bakri was briefly detained by security officials in Beirut but was released Friday after being questioned about his entry to Lebanon, officials there said.
Some leaders of Britain's moderate Muslim community welcomed the ban.
"Omar Bakri will not be missed," said Inayat Bunglawala of the Muslim Council of Britain. "With his very offensive media antics, he contributed toward the demonization of British Muslims. The only group who will miss him will be the tabloid media."
The 45-year-old cleric, who holds Syrian and Lebanese citizenship, left Britain on Aug. 6, saying he was going to visit his mother. British authorities, who have monitored his activities for years, acted swiftly to block his return.
Home Secretary Charles Clarke wrote to Bakri saying his indefinite leave to remain in Britain had been revoked "on the grounds that his presence is not conducive to the public good."
Clarke has wide-ranging powers to exclude people from the country if they threaten public order or national security, and 14 people were barred from the country last year. However, it is highly unusual for someone who has lived in Britain for such a long time — 20 years — to be excluded after leaving.
Although Bakri is not suspected of having links with the bombers, his declaration about never turning in a fellow Muslim to police sparked renewed anger at the cleric, whose face was regularly plastered across British front pages.
Police say Bakri's now-disbanded group al-Muhajiroun once recruited young British Muslims for jihad, or holy war, in Afghanistan, Chechnya and conflicts involving Muslims around the world, and that some members praised the Sept. 11 hijackings.
The controversy about the attacks on New York and Washington boosted Bakri's profile; he appeared regularly on television and was quoted often by the media after giving journalists his cell phone number.
Clarke's announcement Friday came as Jordan said it wanted to extradite another firebrand cleric, Abu Qatada, who is among 10 foreigners detained in Britain and facing deportation in the interests of national security.
The measures, prompted by last month's terrorist bombings in London, have angered civil liberty campaigners, who accuse the government of trampling on human rights. Lawyer Gareth Peirce, who is representing seven of the 10 men being held in two maximum security jails, said some of them have psychiatric problems and had been placed on suicide watch.
"This is insane and dangerous government at its worst," she said.
Abu Qatada, whose real name is Omar Mahmoud Othman Abu Omar, is a radical Muslim preacher previously described by Spanish officials as Osama bin Laden's "spiritual ambassador in Europe." Jordanian authorities convicted him in absentia in 1998 and again in 2000 for involvement in a series of explosions and terror plots.
Britain had long monitored Abu Qatada's activities and had him in custody or under house arrest since 2002. But it was unable to deport him to Jordan because as a signatory to the European Convention on Human Rights Britain cannot send people to countries where they may face torture of mistreatment.
The British government signed a memorandum of understanding with Jordan on Wednesday guaranteeing any deportees would be treated humanely, and is working on similar agreements with nine other countries, including Algeria — the home country of the nine other men in custody.
The men have not been named. However, according to details from earlier court hearings they include a suspect with no hands who is accused of links with Algerian terror groups, a man who allegedly provided satellite phones and other equipment to Chechen fighters, and a suspect arrested for alleged fund-raising for extremist groups.
In its 2005 human rights report, Britain's Foreign Office expressed concerns about Algeria, saying there were "many documented allegations of human rights abuses by the security forces and state armed militias, including the forced disappearances of at least 6,000 people, abductions, torture and extra-judicial killings."
Even if it signs an agreement with Algeria, the government is likely to face a lengthy legal battle to deport the men. Experts, including the U.N. special envoy on torture, have warned that such agreements have no weight in international law and would not sufficiently protect the deportees.
The British government said Friday it would pass new legislation if the deportations were overruled in court, obliging judges to give equal weight to considerations of national security and the rights of the individual.
A memorial service for the 52 victims of the London bombings will be held at St. Paul's Cathedral on Nov. 1, attended by Queen Elizabeth II, Prime Minister Tony Blair, London Mayor Ken Livingstone and senior figures from all major faith groups.
I'm sure Algeria could find room for him. In a nice cozy cell with 20-30 of like minded friends, and 200 rats.
I'd like to see more of this, real black bag kind of stuff.
Just one request: soak all bullets with pig's blood.
But what about his welfare cheque?
Ooops, never mind. The moongod will give it to him.
I'd like to see more of this, real black bag kind of stuff.
What makes you think you'll ever see it? When things like killing this clown happen it's buried so deep it'll take 100 years to find it out.
Remember the Lebanese have already talked to this guy. And I suspect it won't be the only time. He's a Sunni (actually I believe he's a Wahhabist), the Sunnis of Lebanon are making peace with the Christians. This leaves him only one place to go the Shia, now as I sure you know the Wahhabist hate the Shia more than the hate anyone else. So this guy is basically. If he doesn't...disappear he's going to end up in a Lebanese prison.
I meant "see it" in terms of it happening, not literally having it play out on the halftime highlights show of Monday Night Football.
Your observations about the internal dynamic among Muslims is spot on, and Bakri may already know his goose was cooked when he left Old Blighty.
meant "see it" in terms of it happening, not literally having it play out on the halftime highlights show of Monday Night Football.
AH! The light bulb goes on.
Bakri may already know his goose was cooked when he left Old Blighty.
And me being fresh out of sympathy, wouldn't ya know it.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.