Lebanon arrests preacher who praised 9/11 hijackers (Omar Bakri Mohammed)

[Turborama]

Source: Reuters

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Lebanese security forces arrested Islamist preacher Omar Bakri Mohammed on Sunday, three days after a court sentenced him and 21 other people to life in prison for carrying out "terrorist acts." A police statement said Bakri tried to flee when they came to arrest him at his home in the northern city of Tripoli, but he was captured after shots were fired at his car's back tyres.He was one of 47 people sentenced on Thursday night who received terms ranging from three months to life imprisonment. Those who received life were sentenced in absentia and have the right to appeal against the verdict.

A judicial source said the convicted people "belonged to an armed group with the purpose of ... killing and sabotaging. They also helped terrorists in moving and gave them weapons to kill civilians and troops." The source did not specify which attacks were involved but said they took place in Lebanon.

Bakri, a Lebanese citizen of Syrian origin, denied the charges and told Reuters on Friday the sentence was politically motivated. He said he had not even been informed about the court session at which he was sentenced.

Bakri, who used to live in London, became infamous when he referred to the hijackers behind the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States as the "magnificent 19." He has been banned from entering Britain for the last five years.

Read more: http://af.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idAFTRE6AD1SN20101114

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Radical cleric Omar Bakri Mohammed arrested in Lebanon

Source: The Guardian

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Bakri, who holds Syrian and Lebanese citizenship, lived in Britain for 20 years, where he headed the now-disbanded al-Muhajiroun radical Islamist group.

He left the UK for Lebanon in 2005, and the British government barred him from returning because his presence was not "conducive to public good".

Lebanese officials said Bakri was among 54 people sentenced in trials of militants who fought in clashes with the Lebanese army in 2007. He was convicted of "belonging to an armed group with the aim of carrying out terrorist acts and plotting to kill Lebanese soldiers".

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Bakri became a focus of British attention after he said he would not inform the police if he knew Islamists were planning attacks such as the 7 July London bombings.

Full article: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/nov/14/omar-bakri-mohammed-arrested-lebanon

[Vogon_Glory]

1. No Sympathy For Bakri

I don't have any sympathy for Omar Bakri. As skeptical as I am about the Lebanese system of justice, I hope that the Lebanese authorities have irrefutable goods on the guy. I hope he gets a fair trial and gets convicted, then sent off to prison for a long, long time.