London, England - An outspoken Muslim cleric who left the country after the government pledged to crack down on radical Islamists said on Tuesday he had merely gone on holiday and planned to return.
Syrian-born Sheikh Omar Bakri Mohammed, who has lived in Britain for 20 years, left for Lebanon on Saturday and associates said he would not come back.
Bakri said on Tuesday he had decided to take a short break from Britain because he feared the government was using clerics like him as an excuse to rush in new laws and "put pressure on the Muslim community".
"I decided myself to go on holiday, which is for four or five weeks and stay with my mother back home," he said.
"I am going to return ... unless this government says you are not welcome."
Bakri, who used to live in Lebanon and holds Lebanese citizenship, had already said he might leave the country to avoid retroactive charges under new anti-terrorism measures planned following last month's attacks on London's transport system.
Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott, standing in for the holidaying Tony Blair, said Bakri was free to come and go as he pleased under current laws. But he made clear he would not be upset if Bakri stayed away.
"I don't think he is welcome by many people in this country, is he?" he told reporters when asked if Bakri was welcome. "But at the moment he has the right to come in and out."
"That is the circumstances at present and we have to change situations in this country by law," added Prescott.
"I say enjoy your holiday -- I hope it's a long one."
The cleric has become a hate figure for the tabloid press, which has urged the government to rein him in.
"Glad To See Bak Of You", the top-selling Sun daily declared on its front page on Tuesday.
Blair unveiled sweeping measures last Friday to silence or deport extremists even if it meant overriding human rights laws, and said the government would ban two radical groups from operating in the country.
One of them was the domestic branch of Hizb ut-Tahrir, which Bakri was involved with.
The other was a successor to al Muhajiroun, to which the cleric was closely linked. That group won notoriety for celebrating the September 11 attacks on the United States.
Bakri has said he is no longer involved with either group. He has denied having broken laws in his sermons, which have included praise for al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.
Bakri told BBC Radio he knew of no future planned attacks but that even if he did, Islamic law would forbid him from informing the police. "I did condemn the bombings," he said.