LACK OF MEDICAL EXPERTISE IN MUSLIM COUNTRIES
WHY WAS THE CLERIC TAKEN TO LONDON?
WHY WAS THE PALESTINIAN TAKEN TO ISRAEL?
WHY DID ARAFAT HAVE TO GO TO FRANCE?
DAILY MAIL
10/08/05 - News
section
Extremist cleric to return for free heart operation
Hate preacher Omar Bakri Mohammed may undergo heart surgery in an NHS hospital if he returns to the UK.
Bakri, who says he has a congenital heart problem, has already missed several appointments or had them postponed, friends said, but another one is likely to be scheduled before the end of the year.
The so-called "Tottenham Ayatollah" is currently in Lebanon but says he plans to return to the UK in a month's time.
That would allow him to have a free operation which would otherwise cost thousands of pounds privately.
Bakri's health problem is understood to involve the narrowing of arteries in his heart and the likeliest operation is an angioplasty.
More than 20,000 of the operations are carried out by doctors in the UK every year.
His condition is believed to be exacerbated by his weight.
Friends say that, because he is missing a bone in his ankle, he is unable to exercise and that has contributed to the narrowing of his coronary arteries.
£30,000 car
Earlier this year the father-of-seven, who uses a walking stick, took delivery of a £30,000 Ford Galaxy people carrier paid for under the Motability scheme.
He is estimated to have received several hundred thousand pounds in benefits during his two decades in the UK.
It is not clear which hospital Bakri would have his treatment at and hospitals refused to discuss confidential patient details.
But Anjem Choudary, another leading figure in the al-Muhajiroun movement, said: "He had an appointment for a heart operation at some point. I'm not sure exactly when.
"He had appointments before but he missed them - he doesn't like to take medicine, he likes to recover naturally.
"He has a congenital problem he has had the whole of his life. It's a problem with his arteries but I'm not a doctor so I don't know exactly."
Bakri, who had his mobile phone turned off today, sparked outrage last week by saying he would not inform police if he knew Muslim extremists were planning a bomb attack in Britain.
He left for Beirut amid suggestions that he could be tried for treason but the Government has since made clear there is no prospect of that.
Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott admitted there was nothing to stop the firebrand cleric coming and going at the moment from the UK.
But a review of the Home Secretary's powers to exclude people who promote terrorism could be complete by the time Bakri heads home, allowing him to be barred.
Tory leader Michael Howard argued that present powers were already sufficient to keep Bakri out and he called on the Government to use those powers "without delay".
"The Home Secretary has the power to exclude from this country people whose presence here is not conducive to the public good," he said.
Formerly conjoined Egyptian twins happy and back in U.S.
DAILY NEWS STAFF
Tuesday, October 9th 2007
DALLAS — When they were born, conjoined twins Mohamed and Ahmed Ibrahim were happy regardless of being attached at the head. Now, four years after their separation, the smiles have not left their faces.
The 6-year-old Egyptian boys have returned to Dallas, where they were separated in October 2003, to be evaluated to see how their brains have developed.
"These boys to me represent the culmination of a very long journey, where they are arriving at what we all envisioned would be a possibility, but it turns out to be a reality," said Dr. Kenneth Salyer, chairman and founder of the nonprofit World Craniofacial Foundation, which brought the boys across the Atlantic for evaluation last week.
"But just from looking at these boys, I'm very pleased with how they've done," Salyer said. "They've made tremendous progress."
The pair have been accompanied by their mother, Sabah Abu el-Wafa. Their father and two older siblings remained in Egypt.
While in Dallas, they appeared at a fundraiser for the World Craniofacial Foundation along with another set of conjoined twins. They will also make a trip to Arizona for an MRI.
The surgery to separate them in 2003 took 34-hours and required them to stay in Dallas for another two years in order for their skulls to be reconstructed. They returned to Egypt in November 2005.