Banned Cleric Barred From Rescue Ship

Exiled radical Islamic preacher Omar Bakri was turned away from a Royal Navy ship evacuating Britons from war-torn Beirut, it emerged today.

The Muslim cleric, who left Britain for Lebanon abruptly in August last year, tried to board a British ship yesterday. He also claimed he wrote to the British embassy asking to be allowed to back on "humanitarian grounds".

Mr Bakri, who founded the now-disbanded radical Islamic group al-Muhajiroun during his 20 years in Britain, was barred from Britain for good by the then home secretary Charles Clarke days after he left.

Mr Bakri said today he was refused a place on the Royal Navy ship because he did not have a British passport.

He insisted he was only appealing for help on behalf of his family and stressed: "I have never been charged or sentenced in Britain."

Speaking to the BBC Radio 4 Today programme by mobile phone from Beirut, Mr Bakri said: "I am not appealing now against the decision to give me the right to stay in Britain. I am not appealing for that.

"I am appealing on behalf of my children who are worried and they want to see their own father. Do you want my little sons or my little family to come now to Lebanon? I don't think you want that."

Foreign Office Minister Lord Triesman, who is in Cyprus to observe the arrival of evacuated Britons, told BCC Radio's Five Live he thought Mr Mohammed was trying to gain publicity.

"The decision was taken by the home secretary that his presence in the United Kingdom was not conducive given his attitudes and given the way he's spoken of this country, the United Kingdom. It was not conducive for the well being of the country.

"We've got about 30 immigration officers from the Home Office processing people who've got legitimate visas and no doubt they will be taking appropriate decisions but so far as I'm aware, he's made no application whatever to us to come in any case.

"It's a bit of theatre to be candid with you."

A Home Office spokesman said when Mr Bakri left the UK: "The home secretary has issued an order revoking Omar Bakri Mohammed's indefinite leave to remain and to exclude him from the UK on the grounds that his presence is not conducive to the public good."