Omar Bakri Calls for Prayers for Bin Laden

Radical cleric Omar Bakri, on bail in Lebanon on charges including incitement to murder, has called for prayers to mourn Osama bin Laden in Lebanon and outside U.S. embassies around the world.

"We call on our followers in Europe, Canada and especially Britain to pray for his soul outside American embassies," Bakri, who was based in Britain for nearly two decades, told Agence France Presse.

"We will hold prayers for his soul in the Khulafa al-Rashidin mosque and receive condolences here in Tripoli, and there will be prayers for his soul in mosques in Beirut and Sidon," added the preacher, who is now based in Tripoli, Lebanon's main northern city.

Bakri was banned from returning to Britain in 2005 under government curbs introduced following the London underground and bus bombings that year.

He earned notoriety by praising the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States and hailing the hijackers as the "magnificent 19."

Last November, a Lebanese court sentenced him to life in prison on charges including incitement to murder, theft and the possession of arms and explosives.

But a retrial was ordered as he had not been present in court and the 50-year-old was released on bail.

Bakri has appointed Hizbullah Member of Parliament Nawwar Sahili as his defense lawyer and has appealed to the leader of the Shiite group Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah for help.

The Syrian-born cleric, who also holds Lebanese nationality, has denied he has any links to al-Qaida although he says he believes in "the same ideology."

The al-Qaida leader was killed in a U.S. Special Forces raid in Pakistan announced by President Barack Obama in a late-night White House address on Sunday.