Syrian born Islamist cleric Omar Bakri Mohammad was arrested on Sunday in the Mount Lebanon resort town of Aley, National News Agency reported.
The cleric was arrested at dawn on Sunday by the Internal Security Forces Intelligence Bureau at his residence which is located in al-Basateen Street, the report added.
The residence s an apartment owned by a man identified as Hamad Abou Latif.
The radical cleric is on the run in Lebanon, according to officials after his house was raided as part of an operation to end the sectarian violence in Tripoli last April
He is among 200 individuals wanted in connection with their alleged role in clashes between the neighborhoods of Jabal Mohsen and Bab al-Tabbaneh in the northern city of Tripoli that have left dozens of people dead .
Before disappearing, he dismissed the authorities’ claims as “unjust”.
He settled in Tripoli since 2005 after leaving the UK, where he lived for 20 years, and being banned from returning.
He was instrumental in developing Hizb ut-Tahrir in the UK
He was often accused of links with al-Qaeda, which he denied.
The Lebanese army and security forces had adopted in recent months a security plan in Tripoli in order to crackdown on the various perpetrators linked to the unrest.
It resulted in the arrested of several suspects, including some of Bakri’s associates.
Hezbollah links
In 2010 the radical Islamist cleric appointed a Hezbollah legislator as his defense lawyer when he went on trial following his arrest in Tripoli , northern Lebanon.
“Omar Bakri has appointed Hezbollah deputy Nawwar Sahili as his lawyer for the retrial,” the date of which has not yet been set, a source told AFP on November 16 2010.
Bakri, who s praised the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States and hailed the hijackers as the “magnificent 19,” was sentenced to life by a Lebanese military court in 2010.
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