London
Prime Minister Tony Blair this week announced a tough new stance against Muslim clerics who promote violence. In addition to banning militant Islamic groups, Blair said he would ask Parliament to amend the Human Rights Act, which currently forbids deporting anyone to a country that practices torture. That act allowed militant clerics from Egypt and Syria who were wanted by their own governments to find a haven in Britain. “If you come to this country from abroad, then don’t meddle in extremism,” Blair said. British Muslims said the proposal would lead to discrimination. But Blair’s announcement quickly made an impact: Omar Bakri Mohammed, a Syrian-born Islamist cleric who praised the London suicide bombers as “the fantastic four,” has fled to Lebanon.
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