Radical Muslim cleric says he stopped UK violence

LONDON (Reuters) - Two years ago, Omar Bakri Mohammed was banned from Britain after the government ruled that the so-called "preacher of hate" was not conducive to the public good in the aftermath of the July 2005 London bombings.

Bakri, who gained notoriety when he referred to the hijackers behind the September 11, 2001 attacks as the "magnificent 19", had become the embodiment of the radical clerics the government believed were poisoning the minds of young Muslims.

Even from his new home in Lebanon, the Syrian-born Bakri's influence is still regularly mentioned in newspaper articles and prosecutors have described him as a leading influence for many convicted of terrorism offences in recent British trials.

Outlining new counter-terrorism measures on Wednesday, Prime Minister Gordon Brown made "tackling radicalisation and those promoting hate" a major focus point.

However the bearded and bespectacled Bakri, a 49-year-old father of six, says his absence, rather than helping Britain to stop the radicalisation of Muslims, has made matters worse.

He claims the British government and security services had failed to realise that preachers from groups such as his banned al-Muhajiroun (AM) and al-Gurabaa organisations had held back disaffected young Muslims from violence.

"I was able to control the youth for years after the Bosnia war, Chechnya war, Kashmir war, Iraqi war, Afghan war -- I was always able to channel the anger in demonstration, in talks, in confrontation," he told Reuters by telephone.

"The government should benefit from my services there. They should benefit that somebody is able to control the youth not by saying to them 'love the queen, long live the queen'.

"No, they would never respect me, not by saying obey God and do not violate the sanctity of people, Muslim or non-Muslim."

Bakri had lived in Britain for 20 years before the government announced he was not welcome back after he left for a holiday in August 2005.

The British and U.S. authorities say that for years Bakri and his AM colleague Abu Hamza al-Masri, currently serving a seven jail term for inciting his followers to commit murder, spread hatred from London's Finsbury Park Mosque.

Just some of those said to have been influenced by the duo are convicted September 11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui and jailed shoe-bomber Richard Reid.

A group of Britons jailed earlier this year for plotting to carry out fertiliser-based bomb attacks on clubs and shopping centres were radicalised by Bakri, their trial was told.

Despite this, Bakri has sometimes been presented in the media as a joke, partly because of his heavy Middle Eastern accent.

However Ed Hussain, a former follower of Bakri who wrote a book on how he had been radicalised, said his message was sinister while a British security source said the cleric would not have been excluded if he wasn't taken seriously.

"That's not something that's done lightly. You belittle the harm that people like that can do if you just write them off as a loudmouth," the source said.

"Even sitting in Lebanon, he (Bakri) is still regarded as a senior person in al-Gurabaa."

Despite this, Bakri insists his message is peaceful, saying his controversial "magnificent 19" comment was a stunt. He is also keen to stress that no criminal charges have ever been brought against him.

"When Omar Bakri in a conference called them the magnificent 19, it was to attract people like the media to come to listen to the cause and effect of 9/11. Otherwise why do you want to come to Omar Bakri?" he said.

"I am not a person who is going to be in the camp of (U.S. President) George Bush nor am I in the camp of (Osama) bin Laden. I believe we can live together and co-exist. There's no need to be fundamentalist."

Bakri also says his enforced exile was meaningless as he has regularly contacted his followers via the Internet while his followers have set up dozens of Web sites dedicated to him.

"They should open debate, discussions, dialogue with the Islamists. There is no need to censor. If you think it is bad, why do you not debate it and destroy it in national newspapers, in national media?"

Meanwhile he says other violent jihadists were able to fill the vacuum caused by his and other radical preachers' absence.

"As far as the London (7/7) bombing is concerned, the people who were involved were not the radical members of al-Muhajiroun or any other members of radical groups. It was moderate Muslims," he said.

"Those who carry violence against British society were not the radical preachers or radical Muslims, it was the radical jihadists (who) used to be moderate. Why did they change? It was not because of Omar Bakri."

The London bombings did prove the tipping point for the-then government of Prime Minister Tony Blair after Bakri appeared in interviews saying he would not tell police if he knew Muslims were plotting attacks.

Unsurprisingly, he predicts further attacks.

"I believe the al Qaeda threat is very genuine and al Qaeda is not going to rest," he said.

"I believe they are part and parcel of the Muslim community in Britain, via the internet and individuals who go abroad (to places like Pakistan).

"I used to see them there I used to hear them. The way out is for Muslim youth in Britain to have strong preachers who they trust."

(Additional reporting by Mark Trevelyan)