A radical Muslim cleric has been convicted of terrorism charges in a military court and sentenced him in absentia to life in prison, Lebanese officials said today.

Omar Bakri Mohammed, who has Syrian citizenship, lived in Britain for 20 years where he headed the now-disbanded radical Islamist group al-Muhajiroun.

He left Britain for Lebanon in 2005 and the British government barred him from returning.

The Lebanese officials say Bakri is among 54 people sentenced today as part of ongoing trials of militants.

Bakri, who lives in the hotbed Sunni fundamentalist town of Tripoli, said he would never turn himself in. He claimed the charges are "lies and fabrications."