19 years living on benefits
13 April 2012
Omar Bakri Mohammed was born into a wealthy family in Aleppo in Syria.
He rose to prominence in the Eighties when the city sheltered many radicals.
He attended Islamic boarding schools, becoming engrossed in study of the Koran, and considers himself an eminent scholar. In 1986, after living in Syria and Lebanon, he was expelled from Saudi Arabia as an extremist and arrived in Britain.
He is banned from many mosques and is regarded as a fringe figure by most British Muslims.
He lives in a rent-subsidised housing association house in Edmonton. He has received £275,000 in benefits since his arrival in the country.
