An AFP correspondent at the scene said police had fired in the air to disperse curious onlookers who had gathered around Bakri's home in northern Lebanon.
The 50-year-old, who lived in Britain for 20 years, was found guilty, along with more than 40 other Lebanese, Palestinians, Syrians and Saudis, of "incitement to murder, theft and the possession of arms and explosives." Bakri, who failed to show up for sentencing on Thursday, said he had not been formally told the court would issue a verdict and insisted he was innocent.
The Syrian-born cleric, a holder of Lebanese nationality, also denied he had any links to Al-Qaeda.
"I have no ties to Al-Qaeda, direct or indirect, other than the fact that I believe in the same ideology," he said at his home in Tripoli's Abi Samra neighborhood.
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