London, England - The Islamist preacher Sheikh Omar Bakri Mohammed, who left Britain for Lebanon at the weekend after learning he could face incitement charges, will be banned from returning if he fails to come back before the end of the month.
Mr Bakri, the former leader of the Islamist group al-Muhajiroun, said yesterday that he was enjoying a holiday with his mother in Beirut and still hoped to return to London to his family.
The deputy prime minister, John Prescott, urged Mr Bakri to stay away. "I just say 'enjoy your holiday, make it a long one'," he said, adding that the preacher, who currently has indefinite leave to remain in Britain, had committed no offence by leaving the country.
The lord chancellor, Lord Falconer, made it clear yesterday that Mr Bakri, and two other radicals, are highly unlikely to face treason charges. In a letter in today's Guardian, the director of public prosecutions, Ken Macdonald QC, said that discussions with the Metropolitan police had taken place concerning "three Muslim clerics" over "possible offences of solicitation to murder and acts relating to the withholding of information under the Terrorism Act 2000". There had been no discussion about treason.
Although the home secretary, Charles Clarke, cannot stop Mr Bakri coming back under existing legislation, he would be able to block his entry under the plans announced last Friday to exclude or deport those who preach hate or justify violence. Mr Clarke does not need primary legislation to implement the plan to exclude figures such as Mr Bakri. He can introduce the change under existing immigration rules and is expected to do so swiftly once the two-week consultation period is completed.
The home secretary named Mr Bakri in the Commons on July 20 as one of the two principal targets of his new powers, alongside Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi. This means, in practical terms, that Mr Bakri can expect to be banned from re-entering Britain unless he returns within the next three weeks.
A Home Office spokeswoman said Mr Bakri would be able to appeal against a decision to exclude him but it was not clear yesterday whether he would be detained here while that process took place or whether he would have to conduct an appeal from abroad.
An "article three" human rights objection - that he faced torture or persecution if he were sent back to Lebanon - is unlikely to succeed as he says he has gone there on holiday. Legal sources suggest he may have a case on the grounds that, because he is married to a British woman, he could face the break-up of his family. He has seven children here.
It is not known how long the exclusion would last but his indefinite leave to remain in Britain is valid for two years. Mr Bakri holds joint Lebanese and Syrian nationality.
Mr Bakri, 45, who came to Britain in 1985 after being expelled from Saudi Arabia, told BBC Radio's Today programme yesterday that he hoped to return. He said he had decided to spend four to six weeks with his mother because he didn't want the British government to "keep using" him "to put pressure on the Muslim community".
"I'm going to return ... unless the British government say 'you are not welcome'," he said. Mr Bakri said his views had been frequently misrepresented. "I did condemn the bombings taking place and killing innocent people in London, the way I condemn the killing of any innocent people around the world."
He said that, while he would not inform the police of a planned attack by Muslims, he would risk his own life to prevent such an attack. "Islam forbids me to report any Muslim ... to the British police," he said.
Anjem Choudary, a former spokesman for al-Muhajiroun and a close friend of Mr Bakri, said yesterday: "I don't think he wants to live abroad. He has been here since he was a young man."
Mr Choudary said that Mr Bakri, who he described as "the most qualified Islamic jurist in the whole of the western hemisphere", would not return if he knew for certain that he was to be prosecuted or imprisoned.
On the controversial issue of whether Mr Bakri had a duty to hand over to the police people who were planning further attacks, he added: "People think everyone should cooperate with the police but a Muslim can't hand over a Muslim to a non-Muslim."
At the Bakris' home in Tottenham, north London, a woman who identified herself as Mr Bakri's wife said it was for the government to decide whether her husband returned to Britain.
Sir Iqbal Sacranie, of the Muslim Council of Britain, said Muslims in Britain would greet Mr Bakri's departure with "joy and happiness".