Radical cleric Bakri addresses conference at London school

Omar Bakri, the radical cleric banned from Britain, has addressed a conference at a primary school in London in which he called for the country to become an Islamic state.

Dozens of Muslims attended the rally at Sudbury Primary School in Harrow, north London, to hear Bakri preach for 40 minutes over the telephone from his exiled home in Lebanon.

The 51-year-old has been living in the country since 2005, having been banned from returning to Britain after he fled his London home after the July 7 attacks.

Bakri told his followers: “The existence of the Islamic state is a necessity for justice to be established, a necessity for the people in order to keep away from personal desire and greed. “I believe the way forward is Islam. It is time to go back to basics. I believe Islam is the future.”

The conference was organised by Bakri’s right-hand man Anjem Choudary. the former head of the extremist group Al Muhajiroun.