Omar Bakri Muhammad

On 30 October 2015 news reports appeared indicating that his son Mohammed had been executed for apostasy by ISIS, to whom he had fled to fight for in 2014 On 30 December another son, Bilal, was reported to have been killed while fighting for ISIS in Iraq.

After his release he was reported to be living in Tripoli. In April 2014, his home was raided by Lebanese security forces because of his alleged involvement in fighting between the area's Alawite community and local Sunnis. He fled the city and the Lebanese authorities announced he was wanted for "endangering national security". In May 2014 he was arrested in the city of Aley and, in a press conference, the Lebanese Interior Minister, Nouhad Machnouk, alleged that Bakri "has contributed in every aspect in supporting terrorism".

In October 2014, Bakri was sentenced to six years in prison with hard labour by a Lebanese court for founding a Lebanese affiliate of the Al-Qaeda linked Syrian terrorist group Al-Nusra Front, and of building a training camp for Nusra Front fighters in Lebanon. The following year, two of Bakri's sons were killed fighting in the ranks of rival extremist group the Islamic State. The first, Muhammad, was killed in Aleppo, Syria, and the second, Bilal, in Salah al-Din province in Iraq in December 2015.

I am not expecting any problem with the money but if I do not get it there will be trouble. I will take action because it is my property. God says you must do all in your power to get something back if it is taken from you – even if it costs you your life. They will be playing with fire.

In mid-November 2010, Bakri was sentenced to life in prison in Lebanon in a terrorism case that he claimed to know nothing about, but was subsequently released on bail when witnesses who testified against him withdrew their testimony.

On 27 July 2007, a special edition of Newsnight entitled 'Battle for Islam' was broadcast, in which Gavin Esler presented on the battle for the heart and soul of Islam. Omar Bakri featured live from Lebanon alongside Reza Aslan in Los Angeles, and Benazir Bhutto in the studio in London with Maryam Namazie. Currently Bakri reportedly heads the Atibaa' Ahlus Sunnah wal Jamaah movement.

On 31 January 2007 British police arrested nine suspected terrorists who were allegedly planning to kidnap, torture, and behead a British Muslim in the army, all of which would be videotaped and later broadcast on the internet. The soldier had served in the War in Afghanistan, but had returned home to Britain on temporary leave. On 4 February secret recordings of Bakri Muhammad emerged in which he calls for the attack. Bakri told listeners,

On 24 October 2006 British security officials arrested Omar Bakri's son, Abdul Rahman Fostok, at Heathrow Airport, and seized £13,000 that he intended to deliver to Bakri in Lebanon. The money was held under the Proceeds of Crime Act, pending an investigation, but Fostok was allowed to board his flight. Responding to this, Bakri said,

In 2005, following the 7 July 2005 London bombings, The Sunday Times reported that "a dozen members" of his group Al-Muhajiroun "have taken part in suicide bombings or have become close to Al-Qaeda and its support network". Shortly after, he left the UK, where he had sheltered for 20 years, for Lebanon. While there, he was informed by the Home Office that he would not be allowed back into the UK. Lebanon's state-run National News Agency said on 12 November 2010 that Bakri was among 54 people sentenced by a military court to life in prison with hard labour after being accused of acts of terrorism. After the decision, Bakri told reporters, he would "not spend one day in prison", and said, "I will not hand myself in to any court. I do not believe in the law in Britain as in Lebanon." On 14 November 2010, he was arrested by the Lebanese police and was transferred to Beirut.

According to The Times, Bakri was left alone by British law prior to July 2005 despite actions such as an issuing a fatwa "containing a death threat against President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan" because:

On 6 August 2005 Bakri left the United Kingdom following stories that the UK Government were planning to investigate certain Muslim clerics under little-used treason laws. He was banned from returning by British Home Secretary Charles Clarke stating that Bakri's presence in Britain was "not conducive to the public good". He subsequently took up residence in Lebanon. During the 2006 Lebanon War, he tried to flee Lebanon on a Royal Navy vessel evacuating British citizens. He was turned away by the Royal Navy however.

In 2005 Bakri made a televised appeal to the captors of Norman Kember, a hostage in Iraq. After his speech Bakri said, "I appeal myself to them, you see, that to show guidance and mercy to any victim in their hand. But after that I can't myself guarantee anything except to tell you these people mean business."

In January 2005 The Times monitored live, 90-minute internet lectures from Bakri in a chatroom in which he told listeners, "I believe the whole of Britain has become Dar al-Harb (land of war). The kuffar (non-believer) has no sanctity for their own life or property." He said Muslims should join the jihad "wherever you are" and told a woman she was allowed to do a suicide bombing. In another broadcast he said, "Al-Qaeda and all its branches and organizations of the world, that is the victorious group and they have the emir and you are obliged to join. There is no need ... to mess about." Two days later, in another broadcast, he said that dead mujaheedin "are calling you and shouting to you from far distant places: al jihad, al jihad. They say to you my dear Muslim brothers, 'Where is your weapon, where is your weapon?' Come on to the jihad."

He previously called for a kidnapping-terrorist attack in 2005. In another incident he said he hoped someone would "capture British Muslims who are in the Army over there". He has said that a Beslan-style attack is alright if children are not deliberately killed.

Future Television interviewed Bakri on 11 August 2005. Bakri said he did not have ties to Al Qaeda, calling it a "media creation" and said he did not intend to return to Britain. During the interview, Bakri said, "I left Britain on my own accord though I have not been accused of anything there or in Lebanon ... but the London attacks are the reason I have returned". According to media reports, Lebanese police arrested Bakri as soon as he left the building after the interview. Police later said the arrest was "a routine arrest to determine his reasons and if his residency in Lebanon is legitimate". Lebanese Information Minister Ghazi Aridi later said Bakri was arrested as a "precautionary measure". British Ambassador to Lebanon James Watt said, "We made no request for his arrest, nor for his extradition. As far as I am concerned, this is a very simple story – it is a Lebanese citizen who returned to Lebanon and has been arrested by the Lebanese police. We have nothing to do with it and it's not in our place to comment on what has happened."

He was instrumental in developing Hizb ut-Tahrir in the United Kingdom before leaving the group and heading to another Islamist organisation, Al-Muhajiroun, until its disbandment in 2004.

For several years, Bakri was one of the most infamous, high-profile Islamists based in London, and was frequently quoted and interviewed in the UK media. In December 2004 he vowed that Muslims would give the West "a 9/11, day after day after day", if Western governments did not change their policies. He has been described as "closely linked to al-Qaeda"—having released prepared statements from Osama bin Laden after the 1998 United States embassy bombings—but also as the "Tottenham Ayatollah", "little more than a loudmouth", and "a figure of fun".

But "the authorities may have been lulled into a false sense of security", because the covenant was not permanent. In November 2004 Bakri disbanded Al-Muhajiroun, saying that "all Muslims should unite together against a hostile West". Three months later Bakri said this "covenant of security" was no longer in force having been violated by the British government. "Experts note", according to the Times, that the July London bombings followed "four months later".

After the September 11, 2001 attacks Bakri praised the attackers as "magnificent", and changed his leanings towards the theology and philosophy of Al Qaeda. Bakri then stated that he had become a Salafi Muslim. Media outlets and British Muslims criticised him for his open support for various international jihadist organisations. On 13 September 2001, Bakri told the Daily Mail, "When I first heard about [the September 11, 2001 attacks], there was some initial delight about such an attack. I received a phone call and said, 'Oh, wow, the United States has come under attack.' It was exciting."

Commenting on 11 September 2001 attacks, The Times claims he said on his website, "I am very happy today. As much as I regret the innocent people who passed away, with the USA you must pay." The Montreal Gazette however claims that he said in an interview, "If Islamists did it—and most likely it is Islamists, because of the nature of what happened—then they have fully misunderstood the teachings of Islam. ... Even the most radical of us have condemned this. I am always considered to be a radical in the Islamic world and even I condemn it." Bakri, discussing the 2004 Madrid train bombings, is alleged by The Times to have said, "What happened in Madrid is all revenge. Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, life for life."

British journalist Jon Ronson's Them: Adventures With Extremists, a documentary (The Tottenham Ayatollah, directed by Saul Dibb) and book published in 2001, depicts Ronson and Dibb's interactions with Bakri. Ronson depicts Bakri as a charismatic orator who tells a cheering crowd of 5000 that "he will not rest" until he sees "the Black Flag of Islam flying over Downing Street", and calls for the stoning of fornicators and closing of pubs. He tells Ronson, "I cannot take a day off, an hour off, even a minute off. I will take time off when I am with Allah, when I die in the battlefield and become a martyr." But he also describes Bakri as living in a semi-detached council house, enjoying watching a video of Disney's The Lion King, being unable to hold a fish caught on a fishing line, and calling himself "actually very nice".

In 1996 Bakri split with Hizb ut-Tahrir over disagreements on policy, style and methods, declaring Al-Muhajiroun an independent organisation and continued as its Amir until 2003.

Bakri moved to the United Kingdom on 14 January 1986. Later he travelled to the United States to study English after which he travelled back to the United Kingdom to assume the leadership of Hizb ut-Tahrir and become their spiritual leader. He would defend the Muslim faith in public debates against Christian apologists such as Jay Smith.

Bakri has claimed an estimated £250,000 in state benefits since claiming asylum in Britain in 1986. He is currently banned from returning to the United Kingdom.

Bakri claims that he studied at the university of Umm al-Qura in Mecca and the Islamic University of Madinah. In 1984 the Saudi Arabian government arrested Bakri in Jeddah, but released him on bail.

Throughout his life, Bakri states that he joined many Islamic movements including Muslim Students, Ebad ul-Rahman, al-Ikhwan (al-Tali'ah section), and Hizb ut Tahrir. According to an interview with "Jamestown Special Correspondent" Mahan Abedin, Omar Bakri joined Hizb-ut-Tahrir (HT) in Beirut and maintained contacts with it in Cairo, and started an HT cell in Saudi Arabia where "by 1983 I had built a team of 38 brothers". However, when he learned that "HT leaders in Kuwait were reluctant to form or organize any activities in Saudi Arabia", where HT was banned, it came as "a huge shock" and led to his suspension from the party. "Therefore on March 3, 1983 – the 59th anniversary of the destruction of the Ottoman Caliphate – I launched a separate organization [in Jeddah] with the help of these 38 brothers and called it Al-Muhajiroun."

Bakri joined the Syrian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood as a young man but did not participate in their 1982 Hama revolt against the Syrian Ba'ath Party and the government of Hafez al-Assad.

In 1979 he left Lebanon and moved to Cairo, Egypt where he studied at Al-Azhar University for six months. He left Al-Azhar before he could get a degree due to disagreements with his teachers.

Omar Bakri Muhammad (Arabic: عمر بکری فستق ‎; born Omar Bakri Fostock in 1958) is a Syrian Salafi Islamist militant leader, born in Aleppo, Syria.