THE radical cleric Omar Bakri Mohammed defied the Government’s clampdown on extremism yesterday by warning on a new website that the July 7 bombings “are not the first and will not be the last”.

As Charles Clarke, the Home Secretary, declared that hardline preachers such as Bakri Mohammed, Abu Qatada and Yusuf al-Qaradawi could be deported or excluded from Britain, the site blamed the Government, the British people and moderate Muslims for the atrocities.

The site carried a picture of the wreckage of the No 30 bus in Tavistock Square and condemned the fatwa against suicide bombs signed by 500 imams as “clear blasphemy against Islam”.

It attributed the bombings to al-Qaeda and said that the British people should accept Osama bin Laden’s truce offer “otherwise you will have nobody to blame but yourself for what has and will most probably happen again”.

Websites run by Bakri Mohammed’s followers are monitored and regularly taken down by the authorities but al-Ghurabaa (the strangers) was still online last night.

It was also promoted in an internet chatroom where extremists glorified the London bombs and praised Bakri Mohammed and bin Laden.

The al-Ghurabaa name has been used by Bakri Mohammed before and the current version went online just before Mr Clarke told the Commons that he was broadening his powers to exclude people from Britain.

The Home Secretary also signalled that he was considering establishing a formal “supergrass” system to gather information on terrorist recruiters and suspects. Mr Clarke has the power to ban people on grounds of national security, public order or risk to British relations with another country.

Those powers will be widened to enable him to ban “those who foment terrorism” through preaching, running websites or writing articles. A list of “unacceptable behaviours” will be drawn up and a database of extremists around the world will be made available to immigration officers.

Extremists with leave to enter or remain in this country, including asylum-seekers, students and refugees, could be deported.

Mr Clarke indicated that the Government was paving the way to deport Abu Qatada, described by the Spanish authorities as bin Laden’s “spiritual ambassador” in Europe, to Jordan.

He said that he was close to agreeing “a memorandum of understanding” with Jordan about the proper treatment of refugees returned there.

Qatada, 44, was sentenced in absentia to 15 years in jail for terrorist offences in Jordan.

But Qatada will have a right of appeal and sources indicated that the Home Office expects a lengthy legal battle if it attempts to deport him.

Kate Allen, the director of Amnesty International UK, said: “Memoranda of understanding are not a new idea but such promises from countries like Jordan, which are known to have used torture, are not worth the paper they are written on.”

Officials suggested that under the strengthened powers, Yusuf al-Qaradawi, 79, the cleric who defended suicide bombings in Israel, would have been stopped if had he gone ahead with a planned visit to Britain next month.

Bakri Mohammed is likely to have his indefinite leave to remain status removed but trying to deport him would lead to another difficult legal battle.

Officials said that he could be prosecuted under the proposed new law on indirect incitement to terrorism but that will not be on the statute book until Christmas.

Mr Clarke has adopted a tougher approach to extremists after a growing public outcry about “preachers of hate”.

He said that the Government was working with the Muslim community “to strengthen our capacity to fight the destructive and nihilist philosophy of those who promoted the London bombings”.

Explore UK News

• Crime News

• Education News

• Health News

• Scotland News

Times Recommends

• How I lost the gift of joy for a while
• Why Ann Widdecombe has got it wrong
• Alas, it’s the end of the road for petrolheads