Omar Bakri Muhammad arrested in Lebanon

Lebanese security forces have arrested Islamist militant leader Omar Bakri Mohammed several days after a military court sentenced him to life in prison.

Security forces arrested Bakri at his house in Tripoli northern Lebanon.

Last week a Lebanese military court sentenced Bakri, banned from Britain, and 21 others to life in prison for carrying out "terrorist acts", a judicial source said on Friday.

Bakri was among 47 people sentenced on Thursday night who received terms ranging from three months to life imprisonment.

Those who received life were sentenced in absentia and have the right to appeal against the verdict but they must then attend the court's sessions.

Bakri, a Lebanese citizen of Syrian origin who lives in north Lebanon, denied the charges against him and denounced as "politically motivated".

Bakri, who used to live in London, became infamous when he referred to the hijackers behind the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States as the "magnificent 19". He has been banned from entering Britain for the last five years.