Exiled cleric seeks way out of Beirut

LONDON, July 21 (UPI) -- Exiled Muslim cleric Omar Bakri has asked the British navy to help him return to his former home after being caught in war-torn Beirut.

Bakri, who fled England last year, was rebuked when he tried to board a ship Thursday, the Sun said.

He also asked the British Embassy to allow him back in the country on "humanitarian grounds." But, he was told he was no longer a British citizen.

Bakri ruffled feathers in his former homeland by, among other things, hailing terrorists as "magnificent" martyrs.