THE extremist cleric Omar Bakri Mohammed was banned from Britain yesterday amid Home Office fears that he was about to return to test the Government’s tough policy towards the “preachers of hate”.

Charles Clarke excluded Sheikh Bakri Mohammed from returning from Lebanon and stripped him of his leave to stay in Britain hours after ordering the deportation of ten other Islamic extremists, including Abu Qatada, another cleric.

Sheikh Bakri Mohammed could still try to confront the ban and fly to London if he fears that Syria intends to extradite him while he is in Beirut visiting his mother.

The threat of an extended stay in a Damascus prison answering terror allegations came as he was freed yesterday after 24 hours’ detention in Lebanon. Ministers were alarmed that the cleric might fly back to Britain before next weekend when new rules will make it easier for the Government to deport extremists.

Mr Clarke’s decision to move against Sheikh Bakri Mohammed is seen as a U-turn, coming only four days after John Prescott, the Deputy Prime Minister, said that the Government was powerless to stop the cleric from coming back.

Officials say that the Home Secretary decided to act quickly after studying a security service file on the 47-year-old preacher during his holiday. Yesterday he ruled that Sheikh Bakri Mohammed’s presence in Britain was “not conducive to the public good”.

This power has always been at Mr Clarke’s disposal but he would not say why he had not used it until now. The Home Office also refused to disclose whether the cleric was being banned on the ground of national security, public order or Britain’s good relations with another country. Last night ministers denied tampering with the rules so that they could be seen taking action against fanatics. Hazel Blears, the Home Office Minister, described the ban as “a practical and pragmatic decision” that would be widely welcomed.

Anjem Choudray, the cleric’s deputy, condemned the ban as “outrageous” and claimed that ministers were making up new rules as they went along to ensure that the leader of alMuhajiroun group could not come back. He challenged the Home Office to explain what Sheikh Bakri Mohammed had done in the past week, when he had been in Beirut, that justified the sudden ban. The cleric can challenge Mr Clarke’s decisions in the courts but only from outside Britain. He has three months in which to do so.

The Home Office admitted that if he arrived at an airport or port it could not guarantee that he would be sent back to Lebanon immediately. “If there was a plane available he would be removed immediately but sometimes that is not possible. In those circumstances we would put him in an immigration detention centre while arrangements were made to deport him,” a spokeswoman said.

Meanwhile, Abu Qatada, 44, moved a step closer to being deported to Jordan after officials in Amman said that they were likely to lodge an extradition request next week for the man described as al-Qaeda’s spiritual ambassador in Europe.

The Jordanian authorities said that the father of five will face new trials on charges of conspiracy and terrorist bombings. In 2000 he was convicted in his absence of conspiring in a failed bomb attack on American and Israeli tourists. Two years earlier a military court sentenced him to 15 years for being part of a plot to bomb the cars of Jordanian officials.

Jordan, which signed a deal this week to take undesirables removed from Britain, said that a retrial will show that it was respecting Abu Qatada’s rights.

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