HEY, THAT'S OUR MONEY:

Public pays for luxury life of cleric who preaches hatred (KAREN MCVEIGH AND GERRI PEEV, 8/11/05, The Scotsman)

THE extremist Islamic cleric Omar Bakri Mohammed will undergo heart surgery costing thousands of pounds in an NHS hospital when he returns to Britain, it has emerged.

Bakri, whose flight to Beirut at the weekend after learning he may face incitement charges sparked a political row, said that he is to undergo a procedure in November or December to widen an artery.

The news has re-ignited the already heated debate over the fate of the Syrian-born cleric, who said that he would not tell police if he knew Muslims who were planning suicide bombings and reportedly described the 7 July bombers as "the fantastic four".

It is understood Bakri - who is not a British citizen but who has been granted "indefinite leave to remain" - plans to return to continue his treatment at a London hospital. He travelled to Beirut on a Lebanese passport.

No appeal for the defense of a British culture that no longer exists will work, but convince the public these guys are spending down the welfare funds and they'll frog-march them to the docks for deportation.

Posted by Orrin Judd at August 11, 2005 12:01 AM