UK bars Islamic cleric Bakri in anti-terrorism push

Omar Bakri Mohammed. Picture / Reuters

LONDON - Britain barred hardline Moslem cleric Omar Bakri Mohammed yesterday from returning to the country, part of a government crackdown on Islamic preachers it fears inspire bombers such as those who attacked London in July.

Syrian-born Bakri, 45, left Britain for Lebanon on Saturday, saying he was going on holiday, after Prime Minister Tony Blair pledged to silence Islamists who glorify violence.

Lebanese security forces detained him on Thursday for questioning and he is still being held.

"We don't feel he's conducive to the public good," said a Home Office spokeswoman. His family were free to remain in the United Kingdom, she added.

The ban was issued after Britain detained 10 people on Thursday, including the alleged spiritual leader of al Qaeda in Europe, Jordanian national Abu Qatada, and pledged to deport them.

Jordan said on Friday it had not yet decided whether to ask Britain to extradite Abu Qatada, sentenced in his absence to life imprisonment by an Amman court for a 1998 terrorist plot.

Blair has been under domestic pressure to take tough action against foreign nationals who encourage or condone terrorism after four British Moslem bombers killed themselves and 52 other people in attacks on London's transport system on July 7.

He has said Britain will override human rights laws if necessary in order to deport foreign nationals deemed a threat to national security.

Bakri, who has become a hate figure for Britain's tabloid media, has lived in Britain since 1986. He used to live in Lebanon and holds Lebanese citizenship.

Bakri was involved with the British branch of the radical group Hizb ut-Tahrir and was closely linked to al Muhajiroun, which won notoriety for celebrating the September 11, 2001, attacks in the United States.

Britain has said it will ban Hizb ut-Tahrir and the successor group to the now defunct al Muhajiroun from operating in the country. Bakri says he is no longer involved with either.

ERODING BRITISH VALUES?

Anjem Choudary, former head of al Muhajiroun and a close associate of Bakri, said the move contradicted the values of freedom of speech and democracy that Britain espoused.

Muslims would see the move as a victory for Islam, he said.

"This is indicative of the oppressive nature of the British regime, who say they uphold certain values," he told Reuters.

Some of Blair's anti-terrorism measures have angered civil liberties campaigners who fear the government is eroding human rights and reneging on international commitments that guarantee deportees freedom from the risk of torture and ill-treatment.

The government this week signed an agreement with Jordan that London says will protect deportees from ill-treatment. It is seeking similar agreements with countries such as Algeria and Lebanon but rights campaigners say the assurances are worthless.

Senior government minister Lord Charles Falconer said on Friday Britain might reform laws to ensure efforts to deport foreign nationals are not blocked by judges over human rights concerns.

To prevent courts stopping deportations over concerns people will face torture at home, the government now wants the law to compel judges to give national security equal weight to human rights in deportation cases.

"I want a law which says the home secretary, supervised by the courts, has got to balance the rights of the individual deportee against the risks of national security," Falconer, head of the judiciary, told BBC Radio.

Judges have thwarted past government efforts to deport foreign nationals on the basis the European Convention on Human Rights - enshrined in Britain's 1998 Human Rights Act - guarantees deportees freedom from torture or ill-treatment.

The legal changes "may involve an act that says this is the correct interpretation of the European Convention," Falconer said.

- REUTERS