Extremist preacher 'will return to UK'

Omar Bakri Mohammed, one of the Islamic extremists who faces possible treason charges over support for the London bombers, plans to come back to Britain, he said today.

The spiritual leader of the al-Muhajiroun group - which is to be banned under anti-terror laws unveiled by Prime Minister Tony Blair on Friday - said he will return to London in four weeks.

Related articles

• Deborah Orr: Let's not do away with faith schools
• Four London bomb suspects appear in court amid record levels of security
• Government 'is losing its grip' on anti-terror strategy
• Secret remands planned for terror suspects
• Leading article: Offensive, but not illegal
• 650 years of treason law
• Ethnic groups shun minister's 'rebranding' plan
• Search the news archive for more stories

Bakri, who was investigated by police over his allegedly inflammatory language but never charged, is currently in the Lebanese capital, Beirut.

Bakri left London on Saturday after it emerged he would face possible treason charges over support for the London bombings.

He said in an interview with BBC Radio Five Live that 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 back in four weeks unless the Government say we are not welcome, because my family is in the UK.

"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.

He added: "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.

"I never, ever spoke about the bombings in London. 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 the UK 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 does not allow him to do so.

"I will never report to the police any Muslim because Islam forbids me. Definitely I would stop him whatever the cost, even if it cost me my life. That is my duty as a Muslim.

"My religion forbids me to report a Muslim to the British police. I believe Islam is superior and nothing supersedes it but we can live with you in harmony."

He added: "I want for everybody to cool down and live in harmony."

Bakri said he would be prepared to stand trial on charges of treason or any offence.

"I am sure people would see that there is no crime that I committed. There is no treason. I am not a British subject and I never committed any form of crime whatsoever," he said on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme.

"If there is a crime in the UK and my name has been mentioned, I will be the first one to return, challenge all these allegations the way that I challenge always the distortions of the British tabloid newspapers."

He said he had left Britain openly from Heathrow Airport on a Lebanese Airlines flight.

"It was in the middle of the day, I went out publicly with my big beard, with my stick - Omar Bakri Mohammed. I gave them my passport, they checked it for me," he said.

The Labour MP Andrew Dismore, who has campaigned for Bakri to be deported, said Britain was better off without him.

"I think we are safer with him out of the country. He has been a malign influence for getting on for 20 years in this country in the way that he has gone out of his way to recruit young British Muslims," he told the Today programme.

He added: "I think he forgets that he originally came to the UK as a refugee fleeing from the Middle East so if it is safe for him to go back on holiday, maybe it is safe for him to stay back there permanently."

Earlier Anjem Choudary, a former UK head of the group and friend of Bakri, defended the radical cleric and his beliefs.

Mr Choudary said on Radio Five Live: "He was labelled as a lunatic, he was labelled as someone who was fringe within society, they labelled him as a mad man.

"I think the truth and the falsehood will always clash like this but ultimately we believe Islam is superior and will one day dominate the whole of the world, so I think that the Muslims will be victorious one day and we will even see the flag of Islam over Downing Street."

He added: "The fact is he contributed enormously to this country both as a taxpayer when he was running his businesses here but more importantly there are thousands of youths who have their understanding of Islam because of what the Sheikh taught them."