Radical Preacher Bakri Mohammad Arrested

Radical Islamic preacher Omar Bakri Mohammad at his home in Tripoli, northern Lebanon, on November 12, 2010.

Video: Radical Cleric Bakri Mohammad Is Arrested


Lebanese police have arrested radical Islamic preacher Omar Bakri Mohammad just days after he boasted he would "not spend one day" of a life sentence behind bars.

A security official said intelligence agents seized the cleric near his home in the northern city of Tripoli.

A Lebanese military court had previously ruled the 50-year-old should be jailed over terrorism offences.

Sky's home affairs correspondent Mark White said Mohammad was stopped by security forces that had been following a vehicle he was travelling in.

White said: "Omar Bakri Mohammad was pulled from the car at gunpoint."

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

He left the UK for Lebanon in 2005 and the British Government barred him from returning.

The cleric had sparked outrage in the wake of the 2005 London bombings after saying he would not inform the police if he knew Muslims were planning attacks.

Lebanese officials said Mohammad was among 54 people sentenced this week in trials of militants who fought deadly clashes with the Lebanese army in 2007.

He was convicted of belonging to an armed group that aimed to carry out terrorist acts and plots to kill Lebanese soldiers.

Judicial officials said the cleric was sentenced to life because of his failure to show up for his trial. Mohammad insisted he never received a summons.

The day after the sentence was handed down, he vowed he would "not spend one day in prison".

Mohammad also said the charges were lies and fabrications, adding that his lawyer informed him he had 15 days to turn himself in and appeal the ruling.

It was not immediately clear why authorities had not arrested the cleric earlier.

He appears often on Lebanese TV stations as a guest on political talk shows and does not live in hiding.

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  • Video: Radical Cleric Bakri Mohammad Is Arrested