BEIRUT, Aug 11: Radical Muslim cleric Omar Bakri Mohammed, who risks possible treason charges in his adopted home country of Britain, was detained in Lebanon on Thursday, security sources said. Bakri, who holds a Lebanese passport, was detained by police as he left a television studio near the Beirut seafront where he was interviewed for a local news programme.

The cleric arrived in Lebanon on Saturday after sparking outrage in Britain for saying he would not hand over to police Muslims planning to plant bombs. Bakri left Britain barely 24 hours after Prime Minister Tony Blair pledged a crackdown on hard line Islamists in the wake of the July 7 suicide bombings in the London and the failed copycat attempt two weeks later.—AFP