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Cleric 'will return' to UK
So don't cancel those welfare checks just yet...Omar Bakri Mohammed, a Muslim cleric who fled Britain amid possible treason charges, says he plans to return to the UK. Syrian-born Sheikh Omar Bakri Mohammed, who has lived in Britain for 20 years, left for Lebanon on Saturday and associates said he would not come back. But he'd be losing money. Serious no heavy lifting money... Bakri said on Tuesday he had decided to take a short break from Britain because he feared the government was using clerics like him as an excuse to rush in new laws and "put pressure on the Muslim community". That's right, poster boy. "I decided myself to go on holiday, which is for four or five weeks and stay with my mother back home," he said. ...and leech off of her for awhile. "I am going to return ... unless this government says you are not welcome." You're not welcome. Do the British a favor and send for your family. They might be able to balance the national debt. Bakri, who used to live in Lebanon and holds Lebanese citizenship, had already said he might leave Britain to avoid retroactive charges under new anti-terrorism measures planned following last month's attacks on London's transport system. Prime Minister Tony Blair unveiled sweeping measures last Friday to silence or deport extremists even if it meant overriding human rights laws, and said Britain would ban two radical groups from operating in the country. One of them was the British branch of Hizb ut-Tahrir, which Bakri was involved with. The other was a successor to al Muhajiroun, to which the cleric was closely linked. That group won notoriety for celebrating the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States. Just keeping his thumb on the pulse of the community... Bakri has said he is no longer involved with either organisation. He has denied having broken British laws in his sermons, which have included praise for al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. Bakri said he knew of no future planned attacks but that even if he did, Islamic law would forbid him from informing the police. We'll see about that. "I did condemn the bombings," he said. But did you really, really mean it, holy man? Posted by: tu3031 2005-08-09 |
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