Cleric addresses worshippers

Radical Muslim leader Yusuf al-Qaradawi today defied his Government critics by preaching at a London mosque - but shied away from voicing his extremist views.

The controversial cleric addressed worshippers at Central London Mosque in Regent's Park despite mounting calls for him to be deported.

Dr al-Qaradawi, whose weeklong visit to the country has attracted criticism from the Tory Party, Labour MPs and Jewish and gay groups, used his sermon to declare that " preserving Islamic identity does not contradict with being lawabiding citizens".

The Metropolitan Police yesterday passed a file on the cleric to the Crown Prosecution Service after complaints about his support of suicide bombing in Israel and Iraq. He had said such "martyrs" had no option.

The spiritual leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, who has been banned from the US for his links to terror groups, had been scheduled to appear at the Finsbury Park mosque, but the visit was seen as too provocative.

Asked what the cleric made of press coverage of his trip, a spokesman said: "He has said he was amazed and confused. He's been coming to the country for 25 years, and he is wondering what, all of a sudden, this uproar is all about."