Exiled Bakri in SOS plea
By DAVID WOODING
Whitehall Editor
EXILED preacher of hate Omar Bakri has begged the Royal Navy to rescue him from war-torn Beirut.
The Muslim cleric who fled Britain last year, tried to board a ship full of women and children yesterday but was turned away.
He also wrote to the British embassy asking to be allowed back on “humanitarian grounds”.
In an email to officials, dole scrounger Bakri pleaded: “The current situation in Beirut left me without any choice but to appeal to you to grant me a visit visa to see my children for one month.”
But his bid to sneak on one of our ships was blocked at harbour gates by sharp-eyed officials.
Bakri, 46, left his family in Edmonton, North London, last August and went to Lebanon after a Sun campaign to kick him out.
Charles Clarke, then Home Secretary, banned him from returning here.
The mad mullah, who hailed terrorists as “magnificent” martyrs, bought a £150,000 bolthole in the exclusive Doha district of Beirut.
In March he boasted: “When I left England I bought a one-way ticket out. I never want to see the place again.”
But cowardly Bakri changed his tune as soon as bombs started dropping.
He contacted the British embassy asking to be allowed back to see the six children he deserted. Bakri said last night: “What concerns me is my safety. I’d be happy with a month’s visa but this morning they told me I couldn’t because I’m not a British citizen any more.”
Shadow Immigration Minister Damian Green said last night: “This man has a cheek trying to come back to Britain after what he did here.”
A diplomat said: “He hasn’t spoken to any of our people. But he may have been turned away by security guards patrolling the port entrance.”
Anjem Choudary, Bakri’s right-hand man, said last night: “He plans to write to the British authorities and see if they will give him a visa for a passage out.”
Syrian Bakri can’t return there because he faces 20 years’ jail over a coup bid.
Over 20 years in the UK, Bakri sponged £300,000 in benefits. He preached violence and praised the 9/11 al-Qaeda terrorists as the Magnificent 19.
Bakri, dubbed the Tottenham Ayatollah, was a member of al-Muhajiroun, which he left to form al-Ghuraba.
Both have since been outlawed.
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150 grand for house in Beirut?
By DAVID WOODING
Whitehall Editor
EXILED preacher of hate Omar Bakri has begged the Royal Navy to rescue him from war-torn Beirut.
The Muslim cleric who fled Britain last year, tried to board a ship full of women and children yesterday but was turned away.
He also wrote to the British embassy asking to be allowed back on “humanitarian grounds”.
In an email to officials, dole scrounger Bakri pleaded: “The current situation in Beirut left me without any choice but to appeal to you to grant me a visit visa to see my children for one month.”
But his bid to sneak on one of our ships was blocked at harbour gates by sharp-eyed officials.
Bakri, 46, left his family in Edmonton, North London, last August and went to Lebanon after a Sun campaign to kick him out.
Charles Clarke, then Home Secretary, banned him from returning here.
The mad mullah, who hailed terrorists as “magnificent” martyrs, bought a £150,000 bolthole in the exclusive Doha district of Beirut.
In March he boasted: “When I left England I bought a one-way ticket out. I never want to see the place again.”
But cowardly Bakri changed his tune as soon as bombs started dropping.
He contacted the British embassy asking to be allowed back to see the six children he deserted. Bakri said last night: “What concerns me is my safety. I’d be happy with a month’s visa but this morning they told me I couldn’t because I’m not a British citizen any more.”
Shadow Immigration Minister Damian Green said last night: “This man has a cheek trying to come back to Britain after what he did here.”
A diplomat said: “He hasn’t spoken to any of our people. But he may have been turned away by security guards patrolling the port entrance.”
Anjem Choudary, Bakri’s right-hand man, said last night: “He plans to write to the British authorities and see if they will give him a visa for a passage out.”
Syrian Bakri can’t return there because he faces 20 years’ jail over a coup bid.
Over 20 years in the UK, Bakri sponged £300,000 in benefits. He preached violence and praised the 9/11 al-Qaeda terrorists as the Magnificent 19.
Bakri, dubbed the Tottenham Ayatollah, was a member of al-Muhajiroun, which he left to form al-Ghuraba.
Both have since been outlawed.
--------------
150 grand for house in Beirut?
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