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| Abu Hamza: I did work in the Royal Military Acadamy for three years as a civil engineer, I build your district court office. I am not a threat to your security. |
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| Belfast Telegraph Home > News Hamza: panto villain, political pawn, or key terrorist player? By Cahal Milmo 08 February 2006 The loose tile in the ceiling of the Finsbury Park mosque, close to the office of its lead preacher, Abu Hamza, went unnoticed by all but a knowing handful of its worshippers. It was not until a police search team prodded the tile on 20 January 2003 that its secret was revealed - the space behind it contained several dozen forged and stolen passports, credit cards and driving licences. Elsewhere in the building, officers uncovered more identity documents and a stash of "training equipment" - chemical warfare suits, blank-firing pistols, knives and handcuffs. The raid which led to the closure of the north London mosque marked the end of Abu Hamza's control of what anti-terrorism officers believe was a hub for Islamic extremists. The details of what was found at the mosque have not been disclosed by Scotland Yard until this week to avoid prejudicing the trials of Abu Hamza and Kamel Bourgass, the Algerian al-Qa'ida suspect convicted of a plot to carry out a ricin attack in Britain. It was a search of a flat rented by Bourgass in the Wood Green area of north London, intended to be used as a laboratory for ricin, that led police to the angular brick and concrete mosque in Finsbury Park. Among the items found during the ricin investigation at another address was a tape of Abu Hamza's sermons, exhorting Muslims to suicide attacks "on your doorstep". Police investigating the 47-year-old cleric argue that the man whose rhetoric was characterised by the prosecution in his trial as that of a " recruiting sergeant for terrorism and murder" could not have been unaware of the criminal activities going on around him. A senior police source said: "Many investigations into extremist networks have found ... links or connections to Finsbury Park mosque. I don't think it's a coincidence that so many terrorist investigations have led us to that building." Abu Hamza was jailed yesterday at the Old Bailey for seven years. If and when he is deemed to have served his term in Britain, he faces extradition to America on 11 charges, including involvement in the kidnapping and murder of Westerners in Yemen. Abu Hamza, who faces a sentence of up to 100 years if convicted, denies the allegations. Although questions remain about the relevance to global terrorism of the Egyptian-born cleric - an Islamophobic godsend complete with hooks for hands and a missing eye - the poisonous nature of his sermons is beyond doubt. From demanding the murder of Jews to exalting suicide bombing, this was a man with all the moral subtlety of a pantomime villain who spread the invective of a racist bigot. But close scrutiny of him reveals a number of contradictions, ranging from his early life as a music-loving student to the extent of his involvement in the plotting that went on in the unkempt basement rooms of Finsbury Park mosque. Zacarias Moussaoui, the French-Algerian student who is alleged to have been selected as the "20th hijacker" for the 11 September attacks on America, worshipped at Finsbury Park. So too did Djamel Beghal, the alleged operational commander of al-Qa'ida in Europe; Richard Reid, the Muslim convert who tried to ignite a shoe bomb on a transatlantic jet in 2001; Nizar Trabelsi, a Tunisian former professional footballer with drug problems who plotted a suicide mission against the US embassy in Paris; and James Ujaama, an American convert who ran the mosque's website in 1999 and whose evidence against Abu Hamza forms the basis for the extradition case being brought by the US. But British detectives say privately there are no proven connections between the cleric and these plots. His trial heard that the nearest thing to evidence of an active plot was a mention of Big Ben - along with the Eiffel Tower and the Statue of Liberty - as potential targets in a so-called terrorism manual found at his London home. Before his arrest in 2004, Abu Hamza presented two faces to his adopted country. When police arrived at his terraced house in Shepherds' Bush, at 3am two years ago, with an extradition warrant, their attention was drawn to two items in the sitting room. On a bookshelf and written in Arabic script was the Encyclopedia of Afghani Jihad - an 11-volume tome described by detectives as a "manual of terrorism". The second was a framed certificate attesting to the holder's membership of the Institution of Civil Engineers in Whitehall. The focus at the Old Bailey trial was on the encyclopedia, which formed the basis of a charge of possessing an item likely to be useful to a terrorist. Based on CIA training manuals provided to mujahedin fighters in the 1980s, the tome was described by the cleric as a gift. But the engineering qualification reveals much about the transformation of Abu Hamza. The son of an Egyptian army officer, Abu Hamza was born Mostafa Kamel in Alexandria to a comfortable and largely secular life. The young man who stepped off a plane from Cairo at Heathrow in 1979 was far from the portly cleric who two decades later urged the murder of Jews and likened Britain to a lavatory. Two years ago, Abu Hamza said: "I dreamt of coming to the West. I thought the West was a paradise where you could do everything you wanted. I was not a good Muslim." The young Mustafa Kamel was a trim keep-fit fanatic. He took a job as a receptionist in a west-London hotel to fund his studies at Brighton Polytechnic. It was at this hotel that he met Valerie Traverso, a window dresser and divorced single mother from Chelsea. [Note:Traverso was apparently still married to her first husband when she married Hamza] The couple married on 16 May 1980 at Westminster Register Office and she quickly became pregnant with Abu Hamza's son Mohammed. He juggled his receptionist job with studies, and took work at a nightclub, where his duties included stints as a doorman. A classmate at Brighton Polytechnic, where he graduated in 1989, recalled: "He was buzzing with energy. He was a good-time guy - he liked to be liked. He was into rock music and karate. He was also a Chelsea fan. Mostly he was just a normal guy. Religion was nowhere on the radar - we were training to build office blocks and bridges." Upon graduation, Abu Hamza paid his subscription to the Institute of Civil Engineers. His first job was overseeing work at Sandhurst Military Academy. Perhaps due to the racist abuse experienced by his wife, it was at this time that Abu Hamza - and his Christian-born wife - began to show interest in Islam. At Valerie's behest, the couple began to study the Koran in the evenings. After the marriage ended in 1984, Abu Hamza intensified his education in the tenets of his faith, attending a mosque in Stratford, east London. In the late 1980s, he changed his name to Abu Hamza al-Masri. He went to Afghanistan to join the fight against the Soviet occupation in 1991. He says that it was while clearing mines there that he lost his hands and left eye. He returned to Britain after time in Bosnia as a preacher and by 1997 was leading prayers and meetings at the Finsbury Park mosque, and had remarried, to Nagat, 46. By 1998, Abu Hamza and his supporters had secured control of the mosque on a triangle of land in a traffic-choked corner of north London, and its funds. Magnus Ranstrop, an al-Qa'ida expert from the Swedish National Defence College, said: "There is no doubt that what Abu Hamza did was to make the Finsbury Park mosque a magnet for people of extremist persuasions." The Finsbury Park network DJAMEL BEGHAL An Algerian from Brixton, London. Security services say he is al-Qa'ida's operational commander in Europe and is alleged to have recruited suicide attackers at Finsbury Park mosque. ZACARIAS MOUSSAOUI The "20th hijacker" of the 9/11 attacks attended the mosque from 1998 to 2000. He may now receive the death sentence in the US. RICHARD REID The Anglo-Jamaican convert to Islam was supposedly recruited by Beghal. He was jailed for life in the US after trying to blow up a jet in 2002 with plastic explosive in his shoes. NIZAR TRABELSI Former footballer visited mosque with Reid and is likely to have been recruited by Beghal. Convicted of a plot to blow up a Nato base in Belgium and may have been planninga suicide attack in Paris in 2001. JAMES UJAAMA Abu Hamza gave him the role of running the mosque website. The white American convert provided US authorities with evidence against the cleric over a terrorist camp in Oregon. FEROZ ABASSI The student from Croydon was sent to an al-Qa'ida training camp in Afghanistan in 2000 at the behest of Abu Hamza. He was held at Guantanamo Bay. ABU QATADA Palestinian-born cleric who ran a mosque in Baker Street attended by Reid, Trabelsi, Moussaoui and othersin 1998. Abu Qatada has been described al-Qa'ida's ambassador in Europe. Soure: Belfast Telegraph |
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| Man pleads guilty to conspiring to aid Taliban SEATTLE, Washington (CNN) -- A Seattle man under investigation for ties to Islamic terrorists pleaded guilty Monday to charges of conspiring to support the Taliban, the former rulers of Afghanistan. Under a plea agreement, James Ujaama pleaded guilty to providing support, including cash and computer technology, to the Taliban, and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors in their pursuit of a radical Islamic cleric in London. Ujaama is expected to testify against Abu Hamza al-Masri if and when he is formally charged, officials said Monday. Authorities have claimed al-Masri is an important terrorism recruiter, and officials believe he sent followers from London to Oregon to establish a terrorism training facility. Although the conspiracy charge to which Ujaama pleaded guilty carries a penalty of up to 10 years, a statement issued by the Justice Department said the agreement calls for Ujaama to serve two years in prison -- including time served -- and three years of supervised release. A sentencing date has not been set. Ujaama appeared in U.S. District Court in Seattle. Other charges in his indictment from last summer were dropped. The Justice Department said Ujaama has already been cooperating with the government in its ongoing terrorism investigation. "There will be ongoing both investigations and prosecutions relating to information provided by Mr. Ujaama," U.S. Attorney John McKay told reporters. That, he said, is "a win for the American people." In the plea agreement, Ujaama agreed that in late 2000, he went to Afghanistan to help someone receive "jihad training." McKay termed this "significant cooperation on behalf of the Taliban." In 2000 and in 2001, Ujaama agreed that he delivered money, computer software, and other items to Taliban officials in Afghanistan. He entered Afghanistan with the Taliban's help, the agreement states. Asked whether the two-year sentence is too short for someone guilty of assisting a terrorist group, McKay said the plea puts enough restrictions on Ujaama both to ensure the safety of the public and let the government obtain the information Ujaama has. "This case is not over," McKay said. "Mr. Ujaama now becomes a part of it in a different way." Under the agreement, Ujaama is prohibited from associating or communicating with members of a terrorist organization, and will not be allowed to leave the United States for 10 years without U.S. government approval. An attorney for James Ujaama, Peter Offenbecher, told CNN the plea deal involves the government dismissing all of the terrorism and gun charges that had been filed. As to what information his client might have that would be helpful in ongoing investigations, Offenbecher said Ujaama "has agreed to tell the truth" and that "the plea agreement is not conditioned upon any investigation." The attorney also said "it is not conditioned whether his truthful information helps or hurts the government." McKay said the court documents list unnamed co-conspirators who the government will now pursue, with Ujaama's help. article |
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| From community activist to alleged terror conspirator James Ujaama SEATTLE, Washington (CNN) – For years, James Ujaama was known as a prominent community activist in Seattle, working to help the city's poor and promoting entrepreneurship as a way up the economic ladder. Ujaama, a 36-year-old U.S. citizen whose birth name is James Earnest Thompson, has written at least three books on how to succeed in business, including one titled, "The Young People's Guide to Starting a Business Without Selling Drugs." In a 1991 profile, The Seattle Times newspaper called him a role model. On June 10, 1994, then-state Rep. Jesse Wineberry issued a certificate declaring James Ujaama Day in the state of Washington. But, according to U.S. authorities, there is another side to Ujaama. Seattle man indicted on terror charges A federal indictment charges Ujaama with conspiring to aid Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda terrorist network since 1999. The indictment says part of the conspiracy was to establish a training camp in Oregon for terrorists to prepare for "violent jihad." According to the indictment, Ujaama also established one or more Web sites that advocated beliefs "concerning the need to conduct global violent jihad against the United States of America and other Western nations." In a statement released by his attorney Wednesday, Ujaama said, "If I have broken any laws and am guilty of crimes against the American people, then I must be held accountable. The fact is that I am innocent of any wrongdoing and am fully prepared to face my accusers and defend myself in a court of law." Ujaama's uncle told The Seattle Times that Ujaama converted to Islam in the mid-1990s. Ujaama has attended several mosques that have been investigated to determine whether some attendees were part of an al Qaeda cell operating in the United States, according to a law enforcement source. He has lived in both Seattle and London in recent years. Sources describe Ujaama as a "smaller fish" caught in a larger investigation of Sheikh Abu Hamza, a radical British cleric who has praised the September 11 terror attacks. Investigators believe Hamza is actually a senior al Qaeda recruiter, an allegation he denies. While in London on one trip, Ujaama attended the Finsbury Mosque, where Hamza preaches, officials have said. Zacarias Moussaoui -- the only person facing a public U.S. trial in connection with the September 11 attacks -- and Richard Reid, who is accused of trying to blow up a flight with explosives in his shoes, also have attended the mosque. Ujaama also traveled to Afghanistan in 1999 to study Islamic code, according to family friends. Earlier this month, his brother, Mustafa Ujaama, said his brother's travels should not raise suspicions, and that it was "completely, completely impossible" he has ties to terrorism. "James Ujaama's biggest problem is that he's so damn inquisitive that he'll go anywhere, anyplace, anytime," Charlie James, a family friend, told the Denver Post. "I think that's what got him into trouble." Friends and family have spoken out against Ujaama's indictment. "This is a big shock," his mother, Peggi Thompson, told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer newspaper. "I thought things would be dismissed in his favor." A family spokeswoman was critical of the handling of the case, claiming Ujaama has been held secretly and indefinitely as a material witness. "James had been more than happy to cooperate with a grand jury," family spokeswoman Leila McDowell told CNN. "He had said he would be happy to testify and give any information that he might know that might be relevant." article |
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| Hamza's ex-wife life threatened Wednesday, 8 February 2006, 17:15 GMT  The former wife of radical Muslim cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri has revealed she fears for her life after receiving death threats from his supporters. Valerie Fleming met and married him in 1980 when she was 26 and he worked as a receptionist in a London hostel. She told the Times that, despite the many years since their separation, his followers had threatened to kill her if she spoke out against the preacher. Abu Hamza was jailed for seven years for inciting his followers to murder. After forging a relationship the couple had a son, Mohammed, but the marriage broke down four years later. "If I had never met this man, had a child with him, married him, given my life to him, then maybe I would have taken a different path, and so would my children," she said. "He is always there, despite the fact that I want to forget him." Ms Fleming, a Catholic of Spanish origin, said their marriage began to falter when she worried that Hamza was flirting with women at the West End nightclub where he worked as a bouncer. Reinvention In a turning point, he promised to dedicate himself to Islam in a bid to alter his behaviour, prompting them to attend a small mosque in London with their children. And that year, Hamza asked if he could to take their three-year-old son to Egypt on holiday, saying his father was ill. Ms Fleming did not see her son again until around 15 years later when she found out through the media that he was on trial in Yemen on charges of plotting a bomb campaign against British and American targets, she told the Times. Death threats Ms Fleming saw her ex-husband on television in 1999 after he had reinvented himself as a spiritual leader. "I could not believe it," she said. "Where has Mostafa gone? What is this that seems to have replaced him. "I could not believe what he was saying, all this stuff about Islam, or that he was living in London, just 40 miles away from me." Now re-married Ms Fleming says she regrets ever meeting her former husband. Source: BBC News |
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| Lords reject Hamza appeal request Wednesday January 31, 2007 Guardian Unlimited The House of Lords today rejected Abu Hamza's application to appeal against his convictions in the UK, clearing the way for the radical Islamic cleric to possibly face terror charges in the US. Hamza, 48, was jailed at the Old Bailey for seven years in February last year for soliciting murder and inciting racial hatred. London's City of Westminster magistrates court heard the House of Lords' decision today. District Judge Timothy Workman, sitting at the magistrates court, then set a date for a four-day extradition hearing, starting on May 16. He remanded Hamza in custody until that date. The US government is seeking Hamza's "temporary surrender" under the Extradition Act 2003. This would allow him to be tried in the US on charges which have been made against him there, including allegations he provided support to al-Qaida and was involved in a hostage-taking conspiracy in Yemen. Under a "temporary surrender", Hamza would probably be tried in the US and then returned to the UK to complete the jail term for his UK convictions. If convicted and sentenced in the US, he would then be extradited back to the US to serve that sentence after completing his UK sentence. The extradition hearing will either be heard at the City of Westminster magistrates court or at Belmarsh prison. Hamza, who appeared via video-link from Belmarsh, spoke only to confirm that he understood what was happening. |
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 Chief Supt Barry Norman I told Hamza’s bullies it was all over, reveals police chief Feb. 2, 2007 http://www.thecnj.co.uk/islington/020207/news020207_10.html DISGRACED Muslim preacher Abu Hamza had several face-to-face meetings with Islington’s police chief to discuss his involvement at Finsbury Park mosque, the Tribune has learned. It is one of the insights into policing Islington revealed by outgoing Chief Superintendent Barry Norman as he prepares to leave the borough for a new role as head of the Violent Crime Directorate. The borough commander’s talk with Hamza and his allies following fears in 2004 that the mosque, in St Thomas Road, Finsbury Park, was being used to radicalise young Muslims. Chief Supt Norman said: “I told Hamza and his cohorts that it was all over. I made it perfectly clear to them that what they were doing and represented was unacceptable at the mosque. They were bullies and to get rid of them you need to be strong enough to look them in the eye.” Hamza was later arrested and is now serving a seven-year sentence for inciting murder and racial hatred. Chief Supt Norman also praised the work of the new Safer Neighbourhoods ward police teams. He said: “In four years, crime in Islington is down by 18 per cent – one of the best in London – and this is due in no small measure to the work of the Safer Neighbourhoods teams.” Speaking at his office at the Tolpuddle Street police headquarters in Angel, he admitted that the murder of Jason Fearon the night before he took charge at Islington was a “low point”. Mr Fearon was killed in a shooting outside Turnmills club in Clerkenwell in 2003. But Chief Supt Norman rejected claims that police response to a specific warning about the shooting had been too weak. He said tip-offs about impending trouble presented a dilemma for police. “Do we tell promoters or a club to cancel an event every time? What do we do with those hundreds of people who will turn up?” he asked. Chief Superintendent Bob Carr, who is currently head of Harrow police, will take over at Islington on February 26. |
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Arm op delays Abu Hamza hearing  The US is seeking the extradition of Abu Hamza An extradition hearing involving Abu Hamza al-Masri has been delayed after the radical Islamic cleric had an operation on one of his amputated arms. The 48-year-old, who was jailed for inciting racial hatred and soliciting murder, is not well enough to attend the case in London, his lawyer said. The US want to put Abu Hamza on trial on terrorism-related charges. The House of Lords paved the way for the hearing after refusing him leave to appeal against his UK convictions. He was originally arrested on an extradition warrant in May 2004 but the process was put on hold while he stood trial at the Old Bailey and then attempted to overturn the jury's verdict. 'In pain' The extradition case, scheduled to last four days, was due to take place at Woolwich Crown Court in front of Senior District Judge Timothy Workman. But Abu Hamza's barrister Alun Jones QC told the court his client was recovering from an operation on Monday to remove an inch of bone from one of his arms. He said Abu Hamza, from west London, was given no notice of the procedure. "He has not slept and he is in pain," he said. Hamza wore prosthetic fittings before being jailed, including a hook on his arm. Mr Jones said he often accidentally bangs and scrapes his arms on metal surfaces in Belmarsh jail's high security wing. The injuries can become infected and require further treatment, the court heard. The hearing was adjourned until Thursday. BBC |
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| Londonistan Calling The London neighborhood of the author's youth, Finsbury Park, is now one of the breeding grounds for a new phenomenon: the British jihadist. How did a nation move from cricket and fish-and-chips to burkas and shoe-bombers in a single generation? by Christopher Hitchens June 2007 Complete article : http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/feature.../hitchens200706 |
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| How Britain Encouraged Radicalism and Terrorism Adrian Morgan - 5/13/2007 Britain has long had a policy of accepting "asylum seekers" onto its shores. A noble policy in principle, it has allowed Islamists who are too extreme for their own Islamic countries to arrive and thrive. Within Britain, these individuals have been allowed to continue preaching their extremism, with little or no interference from the authorities. Individuals such as Omar Bakri Mohammed, Abu Qatada, Yasser al-Siri, Mohammed al-Massari arrived as refugees seeking sanctuary, and then proceeded to agitate among British Muslims. One famous arrival was Abu Hamza al-Masri (pictured), the fiery former cleric of the Finsbury Park Mosque. Hamza arrived on July 13, 1979, not as a refugee, but on a one-month visitor’s visa. Complete article : http://globalpolitician.com/articledes.asp...91&cid=3&sid=74 See also : http://www.speroforum.com/site/article.asp?idarticle=9379 |
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Abu Hamza extradition case begins The US is seeking the extradition of Abu Hamza Extradition proceedings have begun against Abu Hamza al-Masri - although the radical Muslim cleric was not well enough to appear in court. The 48-year-old is fighting US attempts to put him on trial on terror charges. The hearing was adjourned on Wednesday because Abu Hamza was still recovering from an operation on one of his arms. The House of Lords paved the way for the case after refusing the Londoner, who is serving a UK jail term, leave to appeal against his convictions. The case, scheduled to last four days, is being heard by Senior District Judge Timothy Workman at Woolwich Crown Court. Abu Hamza's defence team are expected to question the legality of the US detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, where he could be held. BBC |
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| Cleric Abu Hamza 'plotted Jihad' Radical Islamic cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri was part of a global terror network which plotted Jihad against the west, a hearing has been told. On the first day of extradition proceedings against him in London, Abu Hamza, 48, was accused of involvement in the kidnap of westerners in Yemen. The claims were made on behalf of the US government, which wants to try him. But Abu Hamza's barrister said some of its evidence was obtained by torture and the application should fail. 'Global conspiracy' The Egyptian-born cleric, who formerly preached at Finsbury Park Mosque in north London, faces 11 terror charges in the US, which carry a potential jail sentence of 100 years. He is currently serving a seven-year jail term in the UK for soliciting murder and inciting racial hatred. Hugo Keith, representing the US government, told the hearing at Woolwich Crown Court: "The general allegation is that Mr Hamza is a member of a global conspiracy to wage Jihad against the US and other western countries. "Jihad carried out in numerous parts of the world - the UK, Afghanistan, Yemen and US. "He advocated the defence of Islam through unlawful, violent and armed aggression in order to influence the US government." Mr Keith said that a group of westerners including 12 Britons, two Americans and two Australians were abducted in Yemen in 1998, partly in order to gain the release of Abu Hamza's stepson Mohsen Ghailan and five others. The hearing was told that Abu Hamza gave advice to the hostage-takers and provided them with a satellite phone. Four of the captives - Britons Margaret Whitehouse, 52, a teacher from Hampshire, Ruth Williamson, 34, an NHS employee from Edinburgh, university lecturer Peter Rowe, 60, from Durham, and Australian Andrew Thirsk - were killed after Yemeni authorities tried to rescue them. 'Abuse of process' The hearing was told that Abu Hamza provided expenses for Feroz Abbasi, one of the former British Guantanamo Bay detainees, to travel to Afghanistan. The cleric is also accused of helping fund another man's visit to a terrorist training camp in the Middle East, and helping set up a similar camp in Bly, Oregon, in the US. Abu Hamza missed the morning session at Woolwich Crown Court because he was recovering from an operation to remove an inch of bone from his arm. He attended the hearing in the afternoon session but sat with his head bowed and the stump on his left arm was heavily bandaged. Alun Jones, QC, for Abu Hamza, said the evidence against his client had been obtained by torture. Mr Jones added: "This means the extradition request constitutes an abuse of process of the court and shouldn't be received." The House of Lords paved the way for the case after refusing Abu Hamza leave to appeal against his convictions. The hearing, which is expected to last a further three days, was adjourned. Story from BBC NEWS: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/uk/6665209.stm Published: 2007/05/17 19:42:07 GMT |
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| Hamza helped pay for student's al-Qa’eda training court hears By Dan Menhinnitt  Feroz Abbasi before his trip to Afghanistan Abu Hamza helped pay for former student Feroz Abbasi to attend an al-Qa'eda training camp a court has heard. An extradition hearing against Hamza at Woolwich Crown Court heard how the 48-year-old preacher financed the 24-year-old's trip to Afghanistan. Mr Abbasi, from Croydon, spent four years in Guantanamo Bay after being captured allegedly fighting with the Taliban. He was released from the camp, along with three other Britons, in 2005. Intelligence services believe Hamza is responsible for radicalising hundreds of young British Muslims and helping them attend terrorist training camps in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Hamza, who was jailed for seven years last February for soliciting murder and inciding racial hatred during sermons at Finsbury Park mosque, is fighting extradition to the US. advertisement The court heard Hugh Keith, representing American authories, explain how Hamza was the head of the radical Islamist group the Supports of Sharia. But Alun Jones QC, representing Hamza, said the evidence was unreliable because it may have been obtained under torture. The hearing continues. 8:04am Monday 21st May 2007 |
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| July 12, 2007 - HAMZA: CLAIMS AGAINST HOOK-HANDED CLERIC WERE EXTRACTED BY TORTURE. SHEPHERDS BUSH, HAMMERSMITH, GREENFORD, WEST LONDON, Preacher of hate Abu Hamza should not be extradited to America because the case against him is based on confessions under torture, a court heard today. Lawyers for the 48 year-old cleric claim evidence of his terrorist activities is 'significantly derived' from an alleged associate held at Guantanamo Bay. |
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| Hook Handed Hamza On President's Danger List Thursday, 12th July 2007, 14:14 Category: Crime and Punishment Hook-handed cleric Abu Hamza is considered so dangerous that George Bush that has banned ANY American from dealing with him, a court heard today. The ruling by the American president means US citizens wanting to deal financially with Hamza have to apply for a license from the States. Hamza faces extradition to the US on a string of terror charges. If convicted he would be held at the notorious Supermax prison, the successor to Alcatraz that is even more secure than the island-based jail. The court was told of the 23 hour lockdown regime at the prison, where inmates include shoebomber Richard Reid, and the likelihood that if extradited and convicted, Hamza could spend the rest of his life behind bars. Today, a defence witness for Hamza, American attorney and extradition expert Bruce Malloy, told City of Westminster Magistrates Court of the measures Bush had put in place. He said: "US citizens are barred from financial transactions with Abu Hamza under a power that allows the president of the United States to list individuals and companies. It controls the contact US individuals can have with those. "This is a statement from the President that the US believes this person to be a terrorist of such significance we have put them on this list that bans US citizens from dealing with them financially. "Anyone who provided legal services to Mr Hamza would have to get a licence from the American treasury. I have to have a permit to offer legal services to Abu Hamza. "This is part of the President's unfettered discretion in foreign affairs. Congress has allowed the President to act outside the due process of law. "Anyone on the list is specifically prohibited from going to court to challenge it. The only way of challenging the order is through a review body." If extradited, Mr Malloy said Hamza would probably be held in New York City before a trial, but if convicted would be transferred to America's most secure prison that holds terrorists including shoe bomber Richard Reid. He continued: "Based on experience of other high profile inmates, in all likelihood he would be sent to the Supermax prison in Florence, Colorado, where Richard Reid is held. "It is the successor to Alcatraz prison and was built to a higher standard. It is designed to maintain security by cutting off most human contact between a prisoner and staff and other prisoners. "An individual is allowed out for one hour a day. Their cell door opens remotely. The door closes behind the person remotely, the door at the end of the corridor opens remotely and the prisoner then goes out to the exercise facility. "It is the highest level security facility in the US. "It is in a remote place in the middle of the US." The court was told Hamza has a number of children. Mr Malloy said any visitors would have to undergo a background check before they were allowed to visit, adding: "If it was thought they constituted a risk that visitor could be prohibited altogether." Hamza faces a series of terror charges that amount, in English law, to nine counts. These include four charges relating to the setting up of a terrorist training camp in Bly, Oregon, north west America, in late 1999 and early 2000. Two charges related to a terrorist hostage taking in Yemen in 1998 in which four hostages - three Brits and an Australian - were killed. Mr Malloy said anyone found guilty of these charges could face the death penalty, although this is unlikely in the case of Hamza. Mr Malloy said: "The indictment carries the potential for a death penalty. If it were not imposed, then clearly the penalty would be life imprisonment. "Literally, it means you stay until you die. There is no parole and no early release. You leave in a coffin." Listening to the fate that may await him in America, Hamza, appearing via video link from high-security Belmarsh prison, lent forward in his chair and bowed his head. He appeared dressed in a blue prison issue shirt and without his trademark hooks. Mr Malloy warned that because Hamza was on Bush's list, he was unlikely to be given a fair trial and could end up being tried by a jury of bumpkins. He said: "The greater the amount of adverse publicity, the greater the chance he won't receive a fair trial. "One of the problems you have got with a high-profile case is that you ultimately end up drawing a jury from people who do not read newspapers or watch TV and the defendant finds themselves prejudiced." The hearing continues Source |
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| Finsbury Park: Inside the British Jihad Pratik Chougule - 8/4/2007 http://globalpolitician.com/articledes.asp...05&cid=3&sid=74 Throughout the 1990s and early 2000’s, the Finsbury Park Mosque became a symbol of Britain’s problem with radical Islam and the eerie face of “Londonistan.” The mosque was conceived at the Prince of Wales’ request. King Fahd of Saudi Arabia donated over 2.3 million pounds to construct the building, which was designed to serve the large Bangladeshi community of North London. From 1997 until his dismissal in 2003, however, the fiery Egyptian-born preacher Abu Hamza al-Masri took over as the mosque’s imam. Hamza’s notoriety extends beyond his eye-catching if unfashionable look: an opaque eye and right hook, both consequences of his involvement with the Mujahideen in the late 1980s.2 Hamza rose to prominence on the British Islamist scene, preaching a message of jihad and anti-Semitism. “Killing of the Kaffir (non-believers) for any reason, you can say it is OK, even if there is no reason for it.”3 The “blasphemous, treacherous and dirty” Jews rank high on Hamza’s list of targets. In fact, they are the reason “why Hitler was sent into the world.”4 He touted suicide bombing as an effective means of waging jihad. The ultimate goal, he said, is to see “The Khalifa sitting in the White House, ruling from there like the Prophet Mohammed said that Allah… told him that the whole earth, it will be for Muslims, booty for Islam.”5 After the 9/11 attacks, Hamza declared his support for al-Qaeda. He also led the British-based group Supporters of Sharia (SOS), which seeks to re-establish the Caliphate. According to the SOS website, “Muslims and non-Muslims are being oppressed throughout the world. SOS is one of the organizations struggling to remove this oppression created by man-made laws.”6 Beyond propagating such fighting words, the mosque featured Kalashnikov AK-47 training and served as a base for shipping telecommunications equipment and medical supplies to fellow jihadists in Pakistan.7 Hamza’s activity at Finsbury Park attracted nothing less than an all-star lineup of terrorists: * Richard Reid — The British-born terrorist who attempted to detonate a shoe bomb on a trans-Atlantic flight from Paris to Miami in 2001.8 * Zacarias Moussaoui — The French Moroccan who earned the moniker, “20th hijacker” for his role in the 9/11 attacks. To date, Moussaoui is the only person tried in the United States for the 9/11 plot. He claims that while he was not part of the 9/11 attacks, he was involved in a wider conspiracy to attack the White House. Moreover, Mousaoui maintains that Osama bin Laden personally instructed him to crash planes into American buildings.9 * Kamel Bourgass — The Algerian convicted last year of a plot to manufacture the deadly poison ricin. Bourgass stabbed Detective constable Stephen Oake to death and injured three other officers while attempting to escape arrest.10 * Feroz Abbasi — London-native who worshiped at the mosque before Hamza sent him to train at terrorist camps in Afghanistan. Abbasi was detained at Guantanamo.11 * Abu Doha — Algerian who was arrested in February 2001 for trying to leave England for Saudi Arabia on a forged passport. He is also fighting extradition to the United States for his involvement in the “millennium plot” to blow up an airport in Los Angeles. Moreover, bin Laden granted him permission to establish the Khalden terrorist training camp in Afghanistan.12 * Rabash Kadre — Took over Abu Doha’s network after Doha was detained. British authorities are currently holding Kadre in prison for a plot to blow up a Christmas market in Strasbourg.13 * Nizar Trabelsi — Tunisian ex-footballer jailed in Belgium for plotting to attack the Kleine Brogul NATO airbase.14 * Djamel Beghal — Recruited Reid, Moussaoui, and Trabelsi for suicide missions. Jailed in France over an alleged plot to attack the American Embassy in Paris. Beghal was so extreme that Osama bin Laden labeled him “over the pale.15 * Kamel Rabat Bouralha — Algerian-born British citizen. Served as a top aide to Chechen terrorist Shamil Basayev, who coordinated the Beslan attack of 2004.16 See also : The Bosnian Connection: The civil war that inspired both liberal hawks and Islamist jihadis by Brendan O’Neill http://www.amconmag.com/2007/2007_07_16/feature.html |
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| The Sunday Times August 19, 2007 Hamza may go free as witness backs down Abul Taher ONE of Britain’s most notorious Islamic extremists may be freed from prison as early as next year after an Al-Qaeda “supergrass” said he was no longer prepared to testify against him. Abu Hamza al-Masri, the hook-handed firebrand who used to preach at Finsbury Park mosque in north London, was expected to be extradited to America for trial on charges including trying to establish a terrorist camp in Oregon. But in a New York courtroom last week James Ujaama, 41, the key witness against Hamza, appeared to have reneged on a deal to testify against him. The change of heart could lead to the collapse of the American request for Hamza’s extradition now going through British courts. Eight of the 11 counts on which the case rests depend on Ujaama’s evidence. Hamza faces a possible total of 100 years in prison in America. The Egyptian-born cleric, 49, is serving a seven-year sentence in Belmarsh prison, southeast London, for soliciting murder and inciting racial hatred. But because he has already spent more than three years in prison and on remand, he will qualify for parole early next year and will go free if the extradition case collapses. Hamza’s next extradition hearing is in October. A lawyer close to his case said: “This is a very significant development and it will be brought up in the next court hearing.” Finsbury Park mosque, under Hamza’s control, was blamed for radicalising some of Britain’s worst extremists, including Richard Reid, the shoe bomber, and Zacarias Moussaoui, sentenced to life for his involvement in the 9/11 plot. At least two of the failed bombers in London on July 21, 2005, also worshipped there. Hamza was jailed in 2006 after a court heard tapes of his sermons including: “Killing the kafir [infidel] for any reason you can say is okay even if there is no reason for it.” He is accused by the US of trying to set up a training camp in Bly, Oregon, and providing material support to Al-Qaeda and the Taliban. He is also accused of using Finsbury Park mosque as a base for sending recruits to Afghanistan to train for jihad. Ujaama, a Muslim convert from Seattle, was charged with trying to set up the Oregon camp with Hamza and Haroon Rashid Aswat, another Briton. Aswat, who is in jail in Britain pending extradition, was arrested at the request of British police in Zambia and questioned for his alleged role in the 2005 London bombings. He has never been charged and denies any involvement in terrorism. After his arrest in 2003 Ujaama struck a deal with the FBI: he promised to testify against Hamza and Aswat and was allowed to plead guilty to a lesser charge of aiding the Taliban, which left him with a reduced prison sentence. But last year, while on supervised release, Ujaama fled on a false passport to Belize, where he was arrested last December. On Monday he appeared in court in New York, where the more serious terror-related charges against him were reinstated. He now faces up to 30 years in jail. According to court transcripts, Ujaama said: “Part of the reason I left the US was to avoid having to . . . give testimony in the criminal matters against Abu Hamza and others.” The Home Office declined to comment on individual cases, but said: “Any prisoner sentenced for more than four years automatically qualifies for parole after half that term.” |
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| The Sunday Times August 19, 2007 Hamza may go free as witness backs down Abul Taher ONE of Britain’s most notorious Islamic extremists may be freed from prison as early as next year after an Al-Qaeda “supergrass” said he was no longer prepared to testify against him. Abu Hamza al-Masri, the hook-handed firebrand who used to preach at Finsbury Park mosque in north London, was expected to be extradited to America for trial on charges including trying to establish a terrorist camp in Oregon. But in a New York courtroom last week James Ujaama, 41, the key witness against Hamza, appeared to have reneged on a deal to testify against him. The change of heart could lead to the collapse of the American request for Hamza’s extradition now going through British courts. Eight of the 11 counts on which the case rests depend on Ujaama’s evidence. Hamza faces a possible total of 100 years in prison in America. |
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| Ujaama's words may help U.S. win extradition By David Bowermaster Monday, August 20, 2007 - Page updated at 02:05 AM Seattle Times staff reporter  James Ujaama pleaded guilty last week to several terror-related charges. James Ujaama's testimony in U.S. District Court in New York City last week could bolster U.S. efforts to bring three suspected al-Qaida operatives to this country for trial on terrorism charges, legal experts say. Ujaama, who grew up in Seattle, told Judge John Keenan under oath that he sought to establish a jihad training camp in Bly, Ore., in 1999 after conferring with radical Muslim cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri and two of his alleged henchmen, Haroon Rashid Aswat and Oussama Kassir. "The U.S. has more information now that [it] can use to supplement the extradition requests," said Douglas McNabb, an expert in international extradition law with the law firm McNabb Associates in Washington, D.C. McNabb has no connection to the Ujaama case. Since 2004, the U.S. has been trying to persuade the United Kingdom to send al-Masri to the U.S. to stand trial on an 11-count indictment related to the planned development of the Bly site and a 1998 attack in Yemen on 16 tourists, including two Americans. Al-Masri, who is serving a seven-year sentence in the United Kingdom for fomenting racial hatred and urging his followers to kill non-Muslims, gained notoriety for his fiery preaching at the Finsbury Park Mosque in north London. He emerged as a militant preacher in the 1990s, and his sermons were attended by Sept. 11 plotter Zacarias Moussaoui and shoe-bomber Richard Reid. In May, after several procedural delays, formal extradition proceedings against al-Masri were begun in England, and three more days of hearings are scheduled in late October, during which the U.S. could introduce Ujaama's testimony. However, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York, which is handling the case, declined to say whether the U.S. plans to use it. Aswat is being held in England, and Kassir, a Swede of Lebanese descent, is being held in the Czech Republic. He was arrested in Prague in December 2005 on an international arrest warrant. Conspiracy described In his testimony last week, Ujaama detailed to Judge Keenan his collaboration with the three men. After discussing plans for the terrorist training camp in Oregon, Ujaama told the judge that al-Masri sent Kassir and Aswat to Seattle to help Ujaama raise money and develop the site, although the camp was never established. Ujaama also said that in late 2000, "Abu Hamza [al-Masri] requested that I assist Ferroz Abassi [another al-Masri follower] to travel from London, England, to Afghanistan to attend a jihad training camp operated by a front-line commander." During the trip, Ujaama said, "at the direction of Abu Hamza, I delivered currency and other things to persons in the territory of Afghanistan controlled by the Taliban," the militant group that formerly controlled Afghanistan. advertising Ujaama had gone to great lengths to avoid making the statements he eventually delivered last week. In 2003, the 41-year-old Ingraham High School graduate pleaded guilty to aiding the Taliban, and he promised to testify against his alleged co-conspirators in exchange for a two-year prison term, which he completed in 2005. But late last year, Ujaama got cold feet. Fearful of the retribution he might suffer if he testified, he fled to Belize in December with a fake Mexican passport. Ujaama caught in Belize It was a rash decision that backfired badly. Ujaama was quickly arrested in Belize and returned to the U.S., where he was sentenced to two more years in prison for violating the terms of his supervised release. The government reinstated more serious terrorism charges against him, and it compelled him to testify against the three suspected al-Qaida operatives as part of a plea agreement reached on May 25, according to the hearing transcript. The terms of the agreement were placed under seal. Ujaama pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy to provide and conceal material support to terrorists, one count of providing and concealing material support to terrorists and one count of unlawful flight to avoid giving testimony. The charges carry a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison, but the government presumably will recommend a shorter term in exchange for Ujaama's renewed cooperation. Geoff Gilbert, a law professor at the University of Essex in England, said the U.S. does not have to demonstrate that it has probable cause to extradite terrorism suspects from the U.K., so Ujaama's statements might not be necessary to ensure that al-Masri eventually is tried in a U.S. court. Still, McNabb said, Ujaama's sworn statements can only bolster U.S. arguments. "They can use this sworn testimony to help establish the charges," McNabb said. "The more evidence you have, the stronger the case it makes." |
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'You can feel a violent person when they speak...but no action was taken.' Brendan Montague Friday May 28, 2004 The Argus (Brighton)  Mustafa Kamal came to Brighton to study. But it was behind the doors of a small mosque that he fomented his plans and began the transformation into the hate figure Abu Hamza. The Muslim community warned of the extremist in their midst but no-one took action. THE doors to the mosque were open when teenager Mustafa Kamal arrived, looking for somewhere to stay. Softly spoken and polite, the young student had nothing more than the clothes on his back and a few official papers stuffed into his pocket. It was late August 1981 and the Egyptian was on a BSc engineering course at Brighton Polytechnic while working as a bouncer at a nightclub in the West End. He was enjoying a "playboy lifestyle" when he reached a crisis point in his life and looked to Islam for answers. He had learned that the doors of the mosque in Dyke Road, Brighton, were always open. The red-brick detached house was nestled between two private homes opposite Brighton and Hove Sixth Form College. A small green plaque welcomed visitors to the Makki mosque and Muslim community centre. Inside, rows of shoes sat on shelves. Leaflets were scattered on sideboards and dusty religious books lined the walls. He was quickly taken under the wing of imam Dr Abduljalil Sajid. He was given a place to sleep and food in return for a little rent. There was a communal room where prayers were held five times each day. Mustafa worked through the night at the club but when he arrived back at the mosque he would read the Koran, carry out cleaning duties and go to his room. While in Brighton he married Valerie Fleming, receiving British citizenship. The couple split up just over a year later. Behind the doors of the mosque, he became obsessed with violent extremism and vowed to die on the battlefields of Afghanistan alongside Taliban and al Qaida fighters. The transformation into a "freelance consultant to terrorist groups worldwide", legendary for his metal hook arm and false eye, had begun. Abu Hamza Al Misri, as he is now known, is today held in the maximum security wing of Belmarsh prison in London. He faces extradition to the USA on 11 terrorism charges and potentially life imprisonment. The 46-year-old is accused of involvement in the taking of 16 westerners hostage in Yemen in December 1998. Three Britons were shot dead. He is also accused of setting up a training camp in Oregon to teach terrorists to use guns, antiaircraft weapons and suicide bombs to wage jihad in Afghanistan. He returned to Britain having lost both his arms, an injury he claims he sustained while clearing Russian landmines. He became notorious for his extremist preaching outside the Finsbury Park mosque in London before his arrest by Metropolitan Police at 3am on Thursday. The US prosecutor bringing the charges, Hugo Keith, said before Belmarsh magistrates: "Abu Hamza is a supporter and facilitator of terrorism. He has contacts with and has supplied material to terrorist organisations. "He has a contact with highranking terrorists in al Qaida and has promoted violence and antiWestern sentiment at Finsbury Park mosque. He has engaged in a pattern of terrorist activity since 1998." It was during Hamza's time in Brighton that his involvement with extremist groups from Algeria, Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan first came to the fore and where his plans for jihad were formed. Dr Sajid, now chairman of the Muslim Council for Religious and Racial Harmony, remembers the day he arrived. He said: "Our doors were open 24 hours a day when I was at the Dyke Road mosque. "Abu Hamza came with just the clothes he was wearing and had no suitcases. He did not even have books, just a few papers in his pocket and that was it. "He was looking for accommodation, a place to pray and live, and said he would pay the rent and do voluntary work. "He gave his student credentials and, as the director, I provided him with a room. "Abu Hamza wanted to work in the mosque and do all sorts of jobs. He did cleaning and a few other things. He had a visa problem and I sent him to an expert and got his visa sorted out." At first Dr Sajid became a father figure to the young disciple and gave him books and literature to study. He said: "He was learning. He had not been a student of Islam and was very humble. I did not find him violent. "Most of the time he was trying to get knowledge from original sources. I don't remember him ever being rude to me." The young student worked hard to gain a foundation in the religion. But he quickly became consumed by the more extreme elements of Islam. Still ignorant of the central tenets of the faith, he began preaching his own perverted ideology. Dr Sajid said: "When he roomed here he had no followers. He was not the leader type of person, he was learning. "He was working in a nightclub and living in a mosque, which is a contradiction in terms. He did not know what Islam is. "He was concerned about his own life, he was concerned he did not live a Muslim life. He was changing from a playboy lifestyle to a Muslim life and in my view he was going to extremism. "I gave him Islamic literature and I found out he was not educated. He was pretty Western but something triggered him to fight for his cause." Dr Sajid soon became alarmed by the young man's extreme views and support for terror organisations in Africa and the Middle East. The first confrontation between the two came when the imam found the teenager distributing leaflets supporting holy war and terror attacks abroad. He said: "I did not find anything wrong at first but when he started handing out extremist literature I found out his views were obnoxious and extreme. "He started to distribute information in Arabic and had the leaflets in the mosque. His views about changing governments included using violence. "He showed me one or two magazines from Algeria. The magazines were not right in my opinion. I asked him with whose permission he had brought this literature to the mosque and said we did not support extremist views. "He has written two books. At the time he was here he had the monograph of one he had called Jihad. He was very aggressive and very narrowminded. "He was not a practising Muslim and he was picking and choosing his things. He had no discipline and did not educate himself as a religious leader has to." The concerned imam contacted Sussex Police fearing trouble in Brighton but says officers were powerless to intervene. "At that time we knew we smelled a rat and told the police these people were not desirable in our community and needed to be arrested as extremists - but no one listened to us. "They used to distribute papers and we gave them to police and said these were dangerous people. Almost every week the literature used to come from him and I used to pass that to the police. I had an interview with them two or three times. "I worked closely with the police for the safety and the peace of the town. I was doing my job as a citizen to promote peace in this country. I was concerned about their extremist views. "You can feel a violent person when they speak violently. But no action was taken against anybody and the question of arrest did not come into it. "The police said unless they broke the law of the land, broke your arm or your hand, they were not going to arrest anyone." While staying at the Brighton mosque Hamza's views became increasingly extreme and he made the decision to fight in Afghanistan against the Soviet Union. Dr Sajid said: "He was fascinated to change the world against the West. He went to Afghanistan to fight the USSR. I understand he went to Bosnia but somehow came back and had nothing to do." Abu Hamza left Brighton after completing his degree and headed for London. The two men did not cross swords again until many years later. The trustees at Finsbury Park were alarmed by the extremists led by Abu Hamza trying to take over their mosque and called on Dr Sajid for advice. "The president of the mosque had court orders against him. Otherwise there was going to be a fight and Abu Hamza would take control of the mosque. "Hamza started his preaching outside the mosque and you would be appalled to see how the police dealt with this man. They allowed him to preach to see who comes to this place. "Finsbury Park became a mosque of hatred and violence but the police did nothing to help." Abu Hamza was exposed as producing tapes of his sermons supporting Osama bin Laden and calling for Muslims to fight jihad "on their own doorsteps". He is accused of providing a satellite phone to the hostagetakers in Yemen, who included his own 16-year-old son, were linked to his Supporters of Sharia group and went on to kill four innocent people. A spokeswoman for Sussex Police said: "The police did conduct an investigation. The police obviously decided no arrestable offences were being committed. "We are in the same position as the Metropolitan Police was at that time in terms of the action we could take." A spokesman at the mosque, who did not want to be named, declined to comment on the arrest. Dr Sajid left Dyke Road seven years ago after a falling-out. The building has now been renamed the Alquds Mosque. source |
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| 3.3 Al-Muhajiroun, recruited by British military intelligence Bakri has not been arrested or even investigated in connection with 7/7. Although al-Muhajiroun and its successor organizations have been repeatedly proscribed by the government, these measures have been wholly ineffective. The network remains fully intact and continues to operate relatively unimpeded across the UK. Despite being exiled to Lebanon, Omar Bakri maintains regular communications with this network inside the UK. Security sources confirm that al-Muhajiroun, including extremist clerics Omar Bakri and Abu Hamza, was hired by MI6 as early as 1995 to recruit British Muslims to fight alongside MI6-CIA sponsored KLA guerrillas in Kosovo. The KLA was simultaneously financed and trained by al-Qaeda. Despite this, as European security sources report, the KLA has continued to receive covert sponsorship from NATO up to January 2003 in its new incarnation as the NLA in Macedonia. |
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| Correspondence written by Home Office officials during the period 1997 – 2001 about the conduct of Abu Hamza. We have a received a request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 for the following: 1) Any letters or other documents written by Jack Straw when he was Home Secretary (or written by officials on his behalf) to civil servants, police, the security services or any other public organisation relating to the conduct of Abu Hamza; 2)Any other material written by any other Home Office ministers or officials between 1997 and the 2001 election on the same subject; We released the following information on: 14/09/2006 Date: Thu Sep 14 00:00:00 BST 2006 Full Document * Correspondence written by Home Office officials during the period 1997 – 2001 about the conduct of Abu Hamza. (HTML) * Download PDF file (174 K ) |
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| Independent, The (London) > Feb 8, 2006 > Article > Print friendly Pantomime villain, political pawn or key terror player? Cahal Milmo The loose tile in the ceiling of the Finsbury Park mosque, close to the office of its lead preacher, Abu Hamza, went unnoticed by all but a knowing handful of its worshippers. It was not until a police search team prodded the tile on 20 January 2003 that its secret was revealed - the space behind it contained several dozen forged and stolen passports, credit cards and driving licences. Elsewhere in the building, officers uncovered more identity documents and a stash of "training equipment" - military chemical warfare suits, blank-firing pistols, knives and handcuffs. The raid to close down the mosque in north London marked the end of Abu Hamza's hegemony over what anti-terrorism officers believe was an international hub for Islamic extremists. The details of what was found at the mosque have not been disclosed by Scotland Yard until this week to avoid prejudicing the trials of Abu Hamza and Kamel Bourgass, the Algerian al-Qa'ida suspect convicted of a plot to carry out a ricin poison attack in Britain. It was a search of a flat rented by Bourgass in the Wood Green area of north London, intended to be used as a laboratory for ricin, that led police to the angular brick and concrete mosque in Finsbury Park. Among the items found during the ricin investigation at another address was a tape of Abu Hamza's sermons, exhorting Muslims to suicide attacks "on your doorstep". Police investigating the 47-year-old cleric argue that the man whose rhetoric was characterised by the prosecution in his trial as that of a "recruiting sergeant for terrorism and murder" could not have been unaware of the criminal activities going on around him. A senior police source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said: "To say he is divorced from operational terrorist activity entirely would be wrong. I am not saying he is a leader of global jihad. But many, many investigations into extremist networks have found them- selves with links or connections to Finsbury Park mosque. I don't think it's a coincidence that so many terrorist investigations have led us to that building." Abu Hamza, who was jailed yesterday at the Old Bailey for seven years, faces spending the rest of his life in jail. If and when he is deemed to have served his term in Britain, he faces extradition to America to face 11 charges, including involvement in the kidnapping and murder of Western hostages in Yemen. Abu Hamza, who faces a sentence of up to 100 years if convicted, denies the allegations. Although questions remain about the relevance to international terrorism of the Egyptian-born cleric - an Islamophobic godsend complete with hook hands and a missing eye -the poisonous nature of his sermons is beyond doubt. From demanding the murder of Jews to exalting suicide bombing, this was a man with all the moral subtlety of a pantomime villain who hijacked the Koran to spread the invective of a racist bigot. But close scrutiny of this terrorist mastermind reveals a number of contradictions, ranging from his early life as a music-loving bouncer to the extent of his involvement in the plotting that went on in the unkempt basement rooms of Finsbury Park mosque. Zacarias Moussaoui, the French-Algerian student who is alleged to have been selected as the "20th hijacker" for the 11 September attacks on America, worshipped at Finsbury Park. So too did Djamel Beghal, the alleged operational commander of al-Qa'ida in Europe' Richard Reid, the Muslim convert who tried to ignite a shoe bomb on a transatlantic jet in 2001' Nizar Trabelsi, a Tunisian former professional footballer with drug problems who plotted a suicide mission against the American embassy in Paris' and James Ujaama, an American convert who ran the mosque's website in 1999 and whose evidence against Abu Hamza forms the basis for the extradition case being brought by the American government. But British detectives privately confirm that there are no proven connections between the cleric and these terrorist plots. His trial heard that the nearest thing to evidence of an active plot was a mention of Big Ben - along with the Eiffel Tower and the Statue of Liberty -as potential targets in a so-called terrorism manual found at Abu Hamza's home in west London. Before his arrest in 2004, Abu Hamza was a man who presented two faces to his adopted country. When police arrived at his terraced house in Shepherds' Bush, at 3am two years ago, with an extradition warrant, their attention was drawn to two items in the sitting room. On a bookshelf and written in Arabic script was the Encyclopedia of Afghani Jihad - an 11-volume tome described by detectives as a "manual of terrorism". The second was a framed certificate attesting to the holder's membership of the Institution of Civil Engineers in Whitehall. The focus at the preacher's Old Bailey trial was on the encyclopedia, which formed the basis of a charge of possessing an item likely to be useful to a terrorist. Based on CIA training manuals provided to mujahedin fighters in the 1980s, the tome and its dedication to Osama bin Laden was described by the cleric as a gift from his time in Afghanistan. But it is the engineering qualification that is arguably more revealing of Abu Hamza and his transformation into a purveyor of hate. The son of an Egyptian army officer, Abu Hamza was born Mostafa Kamel in Alexandria to a comfortable and largely secular existence. The young man who stepped off a plane from Cairo at Heathrow in 1979 could not have been further from the portly cleric who two decades later would urge the murder of Jews and liken Britain to a lavatory. Two years ago, Abu Hamza said: "I dreamt of coming to the West. I thought the West was a par-adise where you could do everything you wanted. I was not a good Muslim." The young Mustafa Kamel was a trim keep-fit fanatic who wore T- shirts and jeans. He took a job as a receptionist in a west London hotel to fund his studies at Brighton Polytechnic. It was at this hotel that he met Valerie Traverso, a window dresser and divorced single mother from Chelsea. The couple married on 16 May 1980 at Westminster Register Office and she quickly became pregnant with Abu Hamza's son Mohammed. Abu Hamza juggled his job as a receptionist with his studies, and eventually took on extra work at a nightclub, where his duties included stints as a doorman. A classmate at Brighton Polytechnic, where the future preacher graduated in 1989, recalled: "He was buzzing with energy. He was a good time guy - he liked to be liked. He was into rock music and karate. I remember he was also a Chelsea fan. Mostly he was just a normal guy. Religion was nowhere on the radar - we were training to build office blocks and bridges." Upon graduation, Abu Hamza paid his subscription to the Institute of Civil Engineers. His first job was overseeing work at Sandhurst Military Academy. Whether it was the racist abuse suffered by his wife and children or the stirring of a deeper yearning, it was at this time that Abu Hamza - and his Christian-born wife - began to show interest in Islam. At Valerie's behest, the couple began to study the Koran during the evenings. After the marriage ended in 1984, Abu Hamza intensified his education in the tenets of his faith, attending prayer meetings at a mosque in Stratford, east London. In the late 1980s, he changed his name to Abu Hamza al-Masri. He went to Afghanistan to join the fight against the Soviet occupation in 1991. He says that it was while clearing mines there that he lost his hands and left eye. American security sources say he suffered his injuries while preparing a bomb. He returned to Britain after a period in Bosnia as a radicalised preacher and by 1997 was leading prayers and meetings at the Finsbury Park mosque, and had remarried, to Nagat, 46. By 1998, Abu Hamza and his supporters had secured control of the mosque, squeezed on to a triangle of land in a traffic-choked corner of north London, and its funds. Magnus Ranstrop, an al-Qa'ida expert from the Swedish National Defence College, said: "There is no doubt that what Abu Hamza did was to make the Finsbury Park mosque a magnet for people of extremist persuasions." 'Many, many investigations into extremist networks have led us to that building' |
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| Ruling due on Hamza extradition Published Date: 15 November 2007 Source: Press Association Location: The Press Association Newsdesk A judge is due to decide if jailed radical Islamic cleric Abu Hamza should be extradited to the US where he could face terror charges. If Hamza is handed over to the US authorities he could be tried for charges including providing support to al-Qaeda and involvement in a hostage-taking conspiracy in Yemen. The American government alleges the cleric was involved in a global conspiracy to wage jihad against the US and other Western countries. He is accused of involvement in the kidnapping of Western tourists in the Yemen and helping to set up a terrorist training camp in America and of helping to fund the trip of a would-be jihadist to a terrorist training camp in the Middle East. Hamza was jailed for seven years in February last year for soliciting murder and inciting racial hatred. He was arrested on an extradition warrant issued by the US government in May 2004 but the process was put on hold while he stood trial in Britain and attempted to appeal against his UK convictions. But a decision by the House of Lords, in January this year, to refuse him leave to make a further appeal against his convictions left the path clear for the present proceedings. Once tried in the US, he would then be returned to the UK to complete his jail term before being extradited if any sentence is handed down to him by an American court. Senior District Judge Timothy Workman will give his ruling at City of Westminster Magistrates' Court in London. The judgment will be subject to the Home Secretary's final decision. Last Updated: 15 November 2007 6:30 AM |
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| November 15, 2007 Abu Hamza to be extradited to US on terror charges Abu Hamza al-Masri, the Islamic cleric serving a prison sentence for soliciting murder, is to be extradited to the United States to face terrorism charges. A judge at City of Westminster Magistrates’ Court this morning approved a request by the American Government for Abu Hamza to be transferred to the US to face charges of organising a global conspiracy to wage jihad against America and its allies. He is also accused of involvement in the kidnapping of Western tourists in Yemen and helping to set up a terrorist training camp in America, as well as of helping to fund the trip of a would-be jihadist to a terrorist training camp in the Middle East. Abu Hamza is currently serving a seven-year prison sentence in Britain after being convicted last February of soliciting murder and inciting racial hatred. Senior District Judge Timothy Workman, ruling that there should be no legal bar to extraditing Abu Hamza to the US, referred the matter to the Home Secretary, where the decision is expected to be rubber-stamped in the coming days. “The defendant is currently serving a sentence of imprisonment in the United Kingdom, but subject to any representations from counsel I propose to send the matter to the Secretary of State for his decision on whether the defendant should be extradited to America,” Mr Workman said. Alun Jones, QC, defending, announced that he would be making submissions to the Home Office urging that the case be prosecuted in the UK. The defence’s case rests around the fact that the US is likely to detain Abu Hamza in one of the country’s notorious Supermax prisons. The court was told that conditions in these jails include inmates being locked up for 23 hours a day in small cells — between 48 and 80 square feet (4.5sq m and 7.5sq m) — with no natural light, no control over the electric light and no view. During this time they have no contact with other prisoners, even verbal, and no meaningful contact with staff. They may be able to spend up to an hour every other day alone in a concrete exercise pen, but access to books and writing material is limited and visits from family are believed to be infrequent. Mr Workman described the conditions as “offensive to my sense of propriety in dealing with prisoners”. However, he added that being jailed there in the short term would not amount to inhuman and degrading treatment and, as such, breach Abu Hamza’s human rights. “I am satisfied that the defendant would not be detained in these conditions indefinitely, that his undoubted ill health and physical disabilities would be considered and, at worst, he would only be accommodated in these conditions for a relatively short period of time,” he said. “Whilst I find these conditions offensive to my sense of propriety in dealing with prisoners, I cannot conclude that in the short term the incarceration in a Supermax prison would be incompatible with his Article 3 rights.” Today’s decision appears to mark the conclusion of a long battle by American authorities to have Abu Hamza extradited from Britain. The cleric, whose inflammatory speeches at Finsbury Park mosque made national headlines, was originally arrested on an extradition warrant in May 2004 but the process was put on hold while he stood trial in Britain and attempted to appeal against his UK convictions. However, in January this year a decision by the House of Lords to refuse him leave to make a further appeal against his convictions left the path clear for the present proceedings. Once tried in the US, he would then be returned to the UK to complete his jail term before being extradited if any sentence were handed down to him by an American court. After today’s ruling Mr Jones, representing Abu Hamza, told the court: “We shall be making submissions to the Home Office. “We shall also simultaneously be writing to the Attorney-General to prosecute the most serious offences here in the UK on the basis that three UK citizens were killed and no US citizens were killed.” A Home Office spokesman said that Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, would make the final decision in the coming days, based on the court’s ruling. She is expected to approve the extradition. “Westminster magistrates have decided to send the case to the Home Secretary to decide. It is our role now to make a call on whether to extradite him,” a Home Office spokesman said. “The decision today was part of a legal process to examine whether there is a bar to extraditing him. The court decided that there wasn’t.” Times |
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Politics The Times October 12, 2006 Abu Hamza paid £220,000 for house while in prison Daniel McGrory and Sean O’Neill GORDON BROWN was asked last night to explain how Abu Hamza al-Masri, the militant cleric, managed to buy a £220,000 house in London while being held in a top-security prison. MPs want to discover how the Islamist extremist was able to pay cash for the four-bedroom property in northwest London when both the Treasury and the United Nations had frozen his assets because of his terrorist links. Abu Hamza bought the semi-detached house in Greenford in October 2004 while he was amassing a legal aid bill that will cost taxpayers more than £250,000. The disclosure is embarrassing for the Chancellor, 24 hours after Mr Brown announced that he was introducing even stricter safeguards to police the financing of terrorism suspects and militant groups. Patrick Mercer, the Tory homeland security spokesman, said: “This is outrageous and makes an utter mockery of how the Chancellor has slipped up in dealing with terrorist financing.” In May 2001, the UN placed the former imam of Finsbury Park mosque on the list of suspects allegedly associated with the Taleban and al-Qaeda. In April 2002, the Treasury ordered that his assets be frozen. The cleric’s benefit payments were stopped when he was arrested in May 2004. Yet, two days before he was charged for inciting murder and racial hatred in October 2004, he reportedly bought the house in Hicks Road, Greenford, while being held at Belmarsh top-security prison. Government lawyers have already begun moves to seize the property. George Osborne, the Shadow Chancellor, demanded that Mr Brown explain how the cleric had apparently managed to make a mockery of Britain’s supposed tough counter-terrorism laws. “If Abu Hamza bought a property while in prison, this will raise serious questions about the Government’s promise to clamp down on the financing of terror,” he said. Abu Hamza was found guilty of incitement to murder and racial hatred at his Old Bailey trial in February and jailed for seven years. He is seeking further legal aid for an appeal. The purchase was uncovered by investigators working for the Legal Services Commission, the body in charge of the £2 billion legal aid budget. They reportedly discovered a financial trail linking the sale of another London property, in Adie Road, Hammersmith, to the purchase of the house in Greenford. Abu Hamza bought the flat in Hammersmith from the local authority under the right-to-buy scheme for £100,000 in 1999 and sold it for £228,000 a month before he bought a much bigger property in Greenford. source:The Times |
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Greg Hands (Hammersmith & Fulham, Conservative) The first failure by those in authority that I wish to examine concerns Abu Hamza's right-to-buy purchase of his flat [as a Hammersmith and Fulham council tenant] on Adie road, Hammersmith. It was the kind of property that many of the homeless people and those in poor accommodation in my constituency can only dream of—a street property in the heart of the leafy Brackenbury village, home to various media personalities and celebrities. Despite the fact that Hamza was on a wide array of benefits, the Labour council accepted his story that the funds to purchase the flat had come from donations via the [Finsbury Park] mosque. It seems incredible now that the presence of those substantial donations, totalling £75,000, did not trigger the stopping of his benefits. Just as incredible is the fact that the Charity Commission was at the time investigating the finances of the Finsbury Park mosque—or the North Central London Mosque Trust, to give it its official title—where Hamza had been preaching since 1996 or 1997. Indeed, during the long period between the right-to-buy application being submitted in 1998 and the final purchase on 22 May 2000, Hamza and the Finsbury Park mosque were the subject of a number of Charity Commission investigations. According to the commission, five years of accounts were not submitted by the trustees. To use its own words, "investigating officers concluded that the internal financial and management controls as exercised by the trustees were inadequate." Some years later, in 2002, an order was made by the commission to suspend a Barclays bank account after it emerged that Hamza was a signatory to the account and after the trustees confirmed that they had not been aware of the existence of the account. The information on the case is not yet complete, but there should be an urgent investigation of whether the £75,000 purchase price for the Adie road property came from diverted funds from the charitable mosque. That investigation should of course have been carried out thoroughly at the time. It seems extraordinary that a man on benefits could pitch up with £75,000, explain it as donations to fund the purchase of a house and not have his benefits stopped, nor have questions asked about the origin of such a large sum of money. It is also worth remembering that Hamza bought the flat for £75,000 and that his son [convicted & jailed in Yemen in 1999 for plotting a bombing campaign against the British consulate etc.] sold it four years later for £228,000. source:Theyworkforyou |
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| Abu Hamza made liable for £1m legal aid costs By Alison Purdy and Shenai Raif Published: 19 January 2007 The radical cleric Abu Hamza has been made liable for more than £1m in legal aid costs for his defence at his trial on charges of inciting murder and race hate. Lord Justice Hughes said he accepted that Abu Hamza, who is seeking to appeal against his conviction in the House of Lords, might not be able to pay, but his judgment would allow the Legal Services Commission to seize his assets. The judge said he was making an order for the recovery of the full costs of his defence because of the "inaccurate and false information" that Abu Hamza had provided to the court about his financial interests.The order means the commission will be able to apply to seize a £220,000 house in Greenford, west London. Abu Hamza claimed his sister owned the house but the judge said he did not believe him. Speaking via video link from prison to the Old Bailey, Abu Hamza pleaded poverty, saying he had no assets and no access to any money since his disability benefits were stopped in April 2003. He said he had been living off handouts from various family and friends. But the court heard that Abu Hamza, whose wife and six children live in a council house, was still contributing to private school fees totalling £9,000 a year. Abu Hamza was jailed for seven years in February last year for inciting murder and race hate charges. The commission has been investigating Abu Hamza's finances since 10 February last year when the judge ordered him to disclose his financial circumstances. Investigations have centred on Abu Hamza's property dealings, including the purchase of a £220,000 house in Hicks Avenue, Greenford. Louis Weston, for the commission, told the court that inquiries had revealed that Abu Hamza first purchased a flat in Adie Road, Hammersmith in May 2000 from the local council for £75,000. In August 2003 he transferred the property to his son*, Mohammed Kamel Mostafa, who sold it a year later for £228,000. Mr Weston said the proceeds of the sale were used to buy the house in Hicks Avenue. The house was bought by Abu Hamza's sister, Ola Kamel Mostafa, who transferred control of her assets to his wife, Najat Chaffe. Abu Hamza said his sister had also been the owner of the flat in Adie Road. Abu Hamza said the house was passed to his son when he decided he could no longer act on behalf of his sister. Independent |
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| 24/09/2007 £335,000 Flat L No Map 8, First Floor Flat, Adie Road, Hammersmith And Fulham, London, Greater London, W6 0PW 15/09/2004 £228,000 Flat L No Map 8, First Floor Flat, Adie Road, Hammersmith And Fulham, London, Greater London, W6 0PW 16/09/2004 £235,000 Ter. F No Map 49, Hicks Avenue, Ealing, Greenford, Greater London, UB6 8EZ 07/10/2004 £220,000 Semi F No Map 172, Hicks Avenue, Ealing, Greenford, Greater London, UB6 8HD |
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| Hamza liable for £1m legal aid costs By Emma Henry and agencies Last Updated: 2:27am GMT 19/01/2007 The preacher Abu Hamza is liable for more than £1m of legal aid for his defence at his trial on charges of inciting murder and race hate, a court ruled today. Lord Justice Hughes said he accepted that Hamza, who is seeking to appeal against his conviction in the House of Lords, might not be able to pay, but said his judgment would allow the Legal Services Commission to seize his assets. The judge said he was making an order for the recovery of the full costs of his defence because of the "inaccurate and false information" Hamza had provided the court about his financial interests. Hamza's defence solicitors are seeking to recover costs of up to £1,088,944. The radical Islamic preacher was jailed for seven years last February for inciting murder and race hate charges. The Legal Services Commission (LSC) today began its application for Hamza to pay the full cost. advertisement The commission was investigating Hamza's finances following an order from trial judge Lord Justice Hughes soon after his conviction. Investigations centred on Hamza's property dealings including the purchase of a £220,000 house in Greenford, west London, while his wife and children lived on benefits in a £600,000 council house. Today Hamza pleaded poverty, insisting that he had no access to money or assets since his bank accounts were frozen in 2002. He has so far refused to provide the court with details of his financial circumstances. Speaking via video link from prison he denied he had any financial interest in the house in Hicks Avenue, Greenford ,and said the property had been bought by his sister. "Since my assets were frozen I have had no access to any banks or any assets," he said. Louis Weston, for the LSC, told the court that their inquiries had disclosed that Hamza first purchased a house in Adie Road, Hammersmith, west London, in May 2000 under a buy-to-let scheme from the local authority. He bought the house for a discounted price of £75,000 on the condition that he did not sell it on for three years. In August, 2003, he transferred the house to his son Mohammed Kamel Mostafa, who then sold the house in September, 2004, for £228,000. Mr Weston said the proceeds of the sale were used to buy the house in Hicks Avenue for £220,000. The house was bought by Hamza's sister Ola Kamal Mostafa, who transferred control of her assets to his wife Najat Chaffe. Hamza said his sister, who lives in Egypt, had also been the owner of the property on Adie Road. He said she had been looking for an investment opportunity in the UK and had used his name to buy the house because, as a tenant, he was eligible for the discount purchase scheme. The house was transferred to his son when he got married and was looking to set up home with his new wife, he said. He told the court he had never had any financial control over the second house in Hicks Avenue. Asked how he had managed to survive with no money and no assets since 2003 he said he had relied on handouts from family and friends. "Since 2003 I have had nothing to do with Adie Road. I had my name on the property but I never considered myself as the owner," he said. Daily Telegraph |
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| Abu Hamza delay Westminster magistrates have given the Home Secretary a month to decide if extraditing the Muslim cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri to the US to stand trial on terror charges breaches his human rights. The court earlier ruled that the cleric, serving seven years for inciting murder and race hate, should be extradited. The Times, January 15, 2008, News in Brief |
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Abu Hamza to be extradited to US Abu Hamza has 14 days to appeal against the decision Muslim cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri is to be extradited to the US to face terror charges, the Home Office has said. The Egyptian-born preacher is currently serving a seven-year jail term in the UK for inciting murder and race hate. The 49-year-old from west London is wanted by the American authorities on 11 charges. City of Westminster Magistrates Court approved the extradition in November but the decision had to be ratified by Home Secretary Jacqui Smith. Ms Smith has signed an extradition order which Abu Hamza has 14 days to appeal against. If there is no successful appeal he will be handed over to the American authorities within 28 days. BBC |
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| 6.45pm GMT update UK orders Hamza's extradition to US Vikram Dodd, crime correspondent and Fred Attewill Thursday February 7, 2008 Guardian Unlimited  Abu Hamza outside the Old Bailey. The home secretary has signed the order for Abu Hamza to be extradited to the US to face terrorism charges. Hamza will be extradited within 28 days unless his lawyers appeal against the decision. Westminster magistrates court in London ruled last November that there was no bar to Hamza's extradition. Hamza was jailed for seven years in February 2006 for soliciting murder and inciting racial hatred. The US alleges Hamza was in contact with high-ranking Taliban and al-Qaida terrorists and aided the hostage-taking of 16 western tourists in Yemen in December 1998 that ended in the deaths of three Britons and an Australian. He is charged with attempting to set up a training camp for "violent jihad" in Oregon in 1999, and sending one of his followers to an al-Qaida training camp in Afghanistan. Hamza's legal team claimed during his extradition hearing that a US prison could endanger his health and give the cleric almost no access to his large family, which could be barred from the country. But senior district judge Timothy Workman ruled that the gravity of the allegations and the public interest of honouring the extradition treaty "outweighed the inevitable interference with Hamza's family life". After the ruling, Alun Jones QC, defending, immediately announced he would be making submissions to the Home Office. He said he would write to the attorney general urging the most serious offences be prosecuted in the UK on the basis that three UK citizens were killed in the hostage-taking incident, while no American citizens were killed. But the home secretary, Jacqui Smith, signed the extradition order this afternoon. Hamza has 14 days to appeal. Defence lawyers fear he could face detention in a notorious US "supermax" jail, without any contact with human beings. The US has assured the UK that Hamza would not face the death penalty or be sent to Guantánamo Bay or other secret prisons where torture is allegedly used. The US state department said in November it wanted to put Hamza on trial in New York. The ailing 49-year-old cleric could still face a sentence of up to 100 years in prison. Hamza once ran the Finsbury Park mosque in London, which police claim he turned into a haven for terrorists. Hamza was jailed at the Old Bailey on six charges of incitement to murder and lesser charges of threatening behaviour with intent to stir up racial hatred and of possessing a document, the Encyclopaedia of Afghan Jihad, which was "useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism". A source close to Hamza told the Guardian the cleric was an "unwitting informant" for MI5, providing information on jihadists whose views he considered more extreme than his own. Hamza said in court that during his many meetings with the security services and anti-terrorism officers he believed a deal operated, whereby his activities would be tolerated as long as they had targets abroad. |
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| Abu Hamza charged with inciting murders Radical Muslim cleric wanted by US is accused of 16 offences Rosie Cowan, crime correspondent Wednesday October 20, 2004 The Guardian The radical Muslim cleric Abu Hamza appeared in court yesterday accused of 16 offences, including 10 of encouraging his followers to murder Jews or other non-Muslims, for which he could face a life sentence. Mr Hamza, 47, faces four charges under the 1986 Public Order Act of "using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour with the intention of stirring up racial hatred". He is also accused, on one count, of having eight video and audio recordings, with intent to distribute them to incite racial hatred. He faces one charge under the Terrorism Act 2000, of possessing a document containing information "of a kind likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism". He appeared at the magistrates court at the high-security Belmarsh prison, in south-east London, where he has been held since May at the request of the US, which wants to extradite him. But British court proceedings take precedence over any foreign request, so the extradition hearing has been postponed, under section 88 of the Extradition Act 2003, until the British case is over. The proceedings will then resume, whether Mr Hamza is acquitted or convicted of the domestic charges. Legal experts said it would probably be well into next year before the complex UK case came to trial. The former imam at Finsbury Park mosque in north London ignored district judge Timothy Workman's request that he stand while the charges were read. Instead, he sat in the dock, flanked by five prison officers. Mr Hamza, wearing a khaki overshirt and with his hair and beard neatly trimmed, nodded twice to confirm his name and that he understood the charges. He was not wearing his distinctive hooks in place of his missing hands. He closed his eyes from time to time, and after complaining of feeling unwell, had to leave the dock for a short period at one stage during the proceedings, which lasted more than three hours. Deborah Walsh, prosecuting, and Edward Fitzgerald, representing Mr Hamza, were involved in extensive legal argument over the case. The packed court was surrounded by Scotland Yard firearms officers as the hearing took place. All 10 charges of soliciting to murder, four of which refer specifically to Jews, relate to Mr Hamza's sermons and statements at public meetings, and were brought under the Offences Against the Person Act 1861. All 16 charges are stated to have taken place on unspecified dates before May 27 2004, the day on which he was arrested on the extradition warrant. There was no application for bail and Mr Hamza nodded again as the judge told him he was being remanded in custody until next Tuesday, when he will appear at a preliminary hearing at the Old Bailey in central London. The Egyptian-born preacher moved to the UK in 1979, and is married to a British woman. Mr Hamza and his followers were banned from Finsbury Park mosque this year but continued to preach outside it every Friday. His supporters were allowed back inside last month. The charges Abu Hamza is charged with 16 offences · Ten counts of soliciting or encouraging people to murder non-Muslims. Charges, four of which relate specifically to Jews, brought under Offences Against the Person Act 1861 · Four counts of using threatening, abusive or insulting behaviour with intent to stir up racial hatred or in circumstances where racial hatred was likely to be stirred up, contrary to the Public Order Act 1986 · One charge of possessing audio and video tapes containing threatening, abusive or insulting material, which he intended to distribute to stir up racial hatred, contrary to the Public Order Act 1986 · One charge of possessing a document containing information likely to be useful to terrorists, contrary to section 58 of Terrorism Act 2000 The first 14 offences are alleged to have taken place on unspecified dates prior to May 27 2004, the last two on May 27 2004 |
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| Hamza appeals against extradition Last Updated: Wednesday, 20 February 2008, 18:19 GMT Radical Muslim cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri has appealed against his extradition to the US on terror charges. Abu Hamza, of west London, is wanted by the US authorities on charges which include providing support to al-Qaeda. Home Secretary Jacqui Smith authorised the 49-year-old's extradition on 7 February and is to consider the appeal. The Egypt-born preacher is currently serving a seven-year jail term in the UK for inciting murder and race hate. The extradition was originally approved by a court in London in November, but the handover to US authorities had been pending the final approval of home secretary. Abu Hamza's solicitor, Muddassar Arani, previously said the extradition "might be a popular move with some sections of the public. But we have to ask ourselves whether it is morally right". Source |
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| Islamist cleric appeals extradition from Britain to US: lawyers 1 day ago LONDON (AFP) — Lawyers for Islamist cleric Abu Hamza, who is wanted in the United States on terror charges, have lodged an appeal against his extradition from Britain, they said Wednesday. Hamza, 49, is accused by Washington of being part of a global plot to wage jihad, or holy war, against Western countries. Officials there want to try him over the 1998 abduction of 16 Western tourists in Yemen. The one-eyed, hook-handed preacher has served two years of a seven-year sentence in Britain after being convicted of soliciting murder and inciting racial hatred. His lawyers, who had said previously that they intended to appeal, had until Thursday to mount an appeal after Home Secretary Jacqui Smith signed an extradition order earlier this month. Confirming the appeal had now been lodged, Hamza's lawyers said it would be heard at the High Court in London. A spokeswoman for Britain's Home Office also confirmed the move but could not say when it would be heard. If his initial appeal fails, he could still take his case to Britain's highest court the House of Lords and subsequently to a European court. Source |
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| Abu Hamza al-Masri (England): - Crown Prosecution Service Press Release on Conviction In February 2006, Abu Hamza was convicted on an array of charges including six counts of soliciting to murder. Director of Public Prosecutions Ken Macdonald QC commented, "when we reviewed Abu Hamza's sermons, we were satisfied that he was directly and deliberately stirring up hatred against Jewish people and encouraging murder of those he referred to as non-believers. Not only did he repeatedly advocate that Muslims should kill non-believers, he set out to persuade his listeners that it was part of their religious duty to do so." - Crown Prosecution Service/Metropolitan Police Service Press Release on Conviction This February 2006 statement notes that "the key evidence for the recent trial was the result of three police seizures of evidence; two in 2003 relating to other anti-terrorist investigations by two separate police forces and the third in May 2004 from Abu Hamza's own address. The overwhelming bulk of the evidence in the trial came from the May 2004 seizure. Only one tape from the seizures in 2003 was the subject of counts on the indictment." - Metropolitan Police Service Press Release on Sentencing In February 2006, Abu Hamza was sentenced to seven years in prison. This press release points out that "in one sermon, believed to have been recorded in 1999, Hamza told his audience: 'If he doesn't respect Dawa [propagation of Islam] kill him...killing a Kaffir [non-believer] for any reason, you can say it is OK even if there is no reason for it.'" - Crown Prosecution Service Press Release on U.S. Extradition Request In May 2004, the U.S. requested that England extradite Abu Hamza to face charges including conspiring to establish a training camp in Bly, Oregon. - Transcript of Conviction Appeal Hearing This document is the transcript of Abu Hamza's July 28, 2006 appeals hearing on his conviction. - Appeals Court Judgment Upholding Conviction In November 2006, Abu Hamza's conviction was upheld. - U.K. Home Office: Abu Hamza Correspondences The U.K. Home Office provided a redacted record of its Abu Hamza documents. - U.S. Indictment An indictment filed in New York in April 2004 charges Abu Hamza with "hostage taking and conspiracy to take hostages, in connection with an attack in Yemen in December 1998 that resulted in the death of four hostages. The indictment also charges Hamza with providing material support to terrorists, and specifically to al Qaeda, for allegedly attempting to set up a terrorist training camp in Bly, Oregon, from October 1999 to early 2000. The indictment also includes charges of providing material support to terrorists, specifically to al Qaeda and the Taliban, for facilitating violent jihad in Afghanistan." - Department of Justice Press Release on Arrest British authorities arrested Abu Hamza in May 2004 "at the request of the United States." - U.K. Home Office Press Release on Extradition Order (Added 2/8/08) In February 2008, the U.K. Home Office ruled that Abu Hamza can be extradited to the U.S. to face terrorism charges there. - U.S. Treasury Department Press Release Labeling Abu Hamza a Specially Designated Global Terrorist In April 2002, the U.S. Treasury Department named Abu Hamza a Specially Designated Global Terrorist, noting, "Abu Hamza al-Masri identifies himself as the Legal Officer for the Islamic Army of Aden, the terrorist organization that claimed credit for the bombing of the USS Cole in Yemen." |
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| In April 2002, the U.S. Treasury Department named Abu Hamza a Specially Designated Global Terrorist, noting, "Abu Hamza al-Masri identifies himself as the Legal Officer for the Islamic Army of Aden, the terrorist organization that claimed credit for the bombing of the USS Cole in Yemen. |
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Probe of USS Cole Bombing Unravels Plotters Freed in Yemen; U.S. Efforts Frustrated By Craig Whitlock Washington Post Foreign Service Sunday, May 4, 2008; Page A01 ADEN, Yemen -- Almost eight years after al-Qaeda nearly sank the USS Cole with an explosives-stuffed motorboat, killing 17 sailors, all the defendants convicted in the attack have escaped from prison or been freed by Yemeni officials. Jamal al-Badawi, a Yemeni who helped organize the plot to bomb the Cole as it refueled in this Yemeni port on Oct. 12, 2000, has broken out of prison twice. He was recaptured both times, but then secretly released by the government last fall. Yemeni authorities jailed him again after receiving complaints from Washington. But U.S. officials have so little faith that he's still in his cell that they have demanded the right to perform random inspections. Two suspects, described as the key organizers, were captured outside Yemen and are being held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, beyond the jurisdiction of U.S. courts. Many details of their alleged involvement remain classified. It is unclear when -- or if -- they will be tried by the military. The collapse of the Cole investigation offers a revealing case study of the U.S. government's failure to bring al-Qaeda operatives and their leaders to justice for some of the most devastating attacks on American targets over the past decade. A week after the Cole bombing, President Bill Clinton vowed to hunt down the plotters and promised, "Justice will prevail." In March 2002, President Bush said his administration was cooperating with Yemen to prevent it from becoming "a haven for terrorists." He added: "Every terrorist must be made to live as an international fugitive with no place to settle or organize, no place to hide, no governments to hide behind and not even a safe place to sleep." Since then, Yemen has refused to extradite Badawi and an accomplice to the United States, where they have been indicted on murder charges. Other Cole conspirators have been freed after short prison terms. At least two went on to commit suicide attacks in Iraq. "After we worked day and night to bring justice to the victims and prove that these Qaeda operatives were responsible, we're back to square one," said Ali Soufan, a former FBI agent and a lead investigator into the bombing. "Do they have laws over there or not? It's really frustrating what's happening." To this day, al-Qaeda trumpets the attack on the Cole as one of its greatest military victories. It remains an improbable story: how two suicide bombers smiled and waved to unsuspecting U.S. sailors in Aden's harbor as they pulled their tiny fishing boat alongside the $1 billion destroyer and blew a gaping hole in its side. Despite the initial promises of accountability, only limited public inquiries took place in Washington, unlike the extensive investigations that followed the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Basic questions remain about which individuals and countries played a role in the assault on the Cole. Some officials acknowledged that pursuing the Cole investigation became less of a political priority with the passage of time. A new administration took power three months after the bombing. Then came Sept. 11. "During the first part of the Bush administration, no one was willing to take ownership of this," said Roger W. Cressey, a former counterterrorism official in the Clinton and Bush administrations who helped oversee the White House's response to the Cole attack. "It didn't happen on their watch. It was the forgotten attack." ... http://tinyurl.com/44jks5 |
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| 27 May, 2008 02:42 (GMT) Abu Hamza's son arrested in 'burglary' The son of hook handed hate preacher Abu Hamza has been arrested over an attempted burglary. Mustafa Kamel, 18, was bailed after a householder saw the suspect enter a back window and gave chase. 'Lookout' Police also arrested and charged Amr Abdel-Sama who was with Kamel. They believe Kamel acted as 'lookout'. Hamza, 49, is serving a seven-year sentence in Belmarsh, for incitement to murder a racial hatred. He is currently fighting extradition by authorities in America. Hand in hook Kamel is one of seven children by Hamza and lives with the preacher's second wife in Shepard's Bush. He was often spotted at his father’s side in his vile tirades and protests outside Regents Park mosque. Under Sharia law, which Hamza preaches, thieves can have their hands chopped off. |
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| Page last updated at 10:02 GMT, Friday, 20 June 2008 11:02 UK Abu Hamza loses extradition fight Abu Hamza's extradition was approved by the home secretary Jailed Muslim cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri has lost his High Court bid against extradition to the US where he faces terror-related charges. The Egyptian-born preacher is currently serving a seven-year jail term in the UK for inciting murder and race hate. Abu Hamza, 49, from west London, is wanted by US authorities on 11 charges, including sending cash to al-Qaeda. He has 14 days to decide whether he will launch a final appeal to the House of Lords against the judges' decision . Sir Igor Judge and Mr Justice Sullivan, sitting at the High Court ruled that the decision to extradite was "unassailable". US charges The charges against him include allegations that he attempted to set up an al-Qaeda training camp in Oregon between 1998 and 2000, and that he sent funds and recruits to the Taleban. He also stands accused of involvement in a conspiracy to take 12 westerners hostage in Yemen in 1998. It is alleged Abu Hamza - who is missing an eye and his hands - gave advice to the hostage-takers and provided them with a satellite phone. Four of the captives - Britons Margaret Whitehouse, 52, a teacher from Hampshire; Ruth Williamson, 34, an NHS employee from Edinburgh; university lecturer Peter Rowe, 60, from Durham; and an Australian national, Andrew Thirsk - were killed after Yemeni authorities tried to rescue them. Abu Hamza is already serving a seven-year sentence The US charges carry a potential jail sentence of 100 years. Hamza was convicted in February 2006 of 11 of the 15 charges he faced in the UK. In addition to being jailed for soliciting murder, he was also found guilty of inciting racial hatred, possessing "threatening, abusive or insulting recordings" and for having a document useful to terrorists. He was arrested on an extradition warrant issued by the US government in May 2004 but the process was put on hold while he stood trial in Britain and attempted to appeal against his UK convictions. City of Westminster Magistrates Court approved the extradition, and in February 2008 the decision was ratified by the Home Secretary, Jacqui Smith. Once tried in the US, Abu Hamza would have to return to the UK to complete his jail term before being extradited if any sentence was handed down to him by an American court. BBC |
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| World>Global Issues from the September 27, 2001 edition 'Why do they hate us?' By Peter Ford | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor "Why do they hate us?" asked President Bush in his speech to Congress last Thursday night. It is a question that has ached in America's heart for the past two weeks. Why did those 19 men choose to wreck the icons of US military and economic power? An Egyptian 'inspired' to join Afghan fighters Sheikh Abu Hamza al-Masri, the radical Muslim cleric who runs a mosque in a shabby district of north London, has certainly come to despise America. Abu Hamza says he used to admire the West when he was a young man - so much so that he dropped out of university in his native Alexandria, Egypt, to study in Britain. And he clearly had nothing against the British government when he took a job as a civil engineer at Sandhurst, the British equivalent of West Point, after he graduated. But as he immersed himself more and more in religious studies, and came into contact with more and more Arab mujahideen, who had travelled from the mountains of Afghanistan to England for medical treatment, he began to change his outlook. "When you see how happy they are, how anxious to just have a new limb so they can run again and fight again, not thinking of retiring, their main ambition is to get killed in the cause of God ... you see another dimension in the verses of the Koran," says Abu Hamza. Inspired by their example, he took his family to Afghanistan in 1990, to work there as a civil engineer, building roads, tunnels, and "anything I could do." And he also fought with the mujahideen against Afghan President Mohammad Najibullah (seen as a Russian stand-in supported by the Soviets), until he blew both his hands off and lost the sight in his left eye, in a mine explosion. What transformed him and his comrades-in-arms from anti-Soviet to anti-American militants, he says, was the way Washington abandoned them at the end of the war in Afghanistan, and sought to disarm and disperse them. "It was when the Americans took the knife out of the Russians and stabbed it in our back, it's as simple as that," says Abu Hamza. "It was a natural turn, not a theoretical one. "In the meantime, they were bombarding Iraq and occupying the [Arabian] peninsula," he says, referring to the US troops stationed in Saudi Arabia after the Gulf War, "and then with the witch-hunt against the mujahideen, all of it came together, that was a full-scale war, it was very clear." Abu Hamza would rather see Islamic militants fight corrupt or secular Arab governments before they take on America (indeed, the Yemeni government has sought his extradition from Britain for plotting to overthrow the government in Sana). But he is in no doubt that the American government brought the events of Sept. 11 on its own head. "The Americans wanted to fight the Russians with Muslim blood, and they could only justify that by triggering the word 'jihad,' " he argues. "Unfortunately for everybody except the Muslims, when that button is pushed, it does not come back that easy. It only keeps going on and on until the Muslim empire swallows every empire existing." Can he understand the motivation behind the assault on New York and Washington? "The motivation is everywhere," he says, with the current US administration. "When a president stands up before the planet and says an American comes first, he is only preaching hatred. When a president stands up and says we don't honor our missile treaty with the Russians, he is only preaching arrogance. When he refuses to condemn what's happening in Palestine, he is only preaching tyranny. "American foreign policy has invited everybody, actually, to try to humiliate America, and to give it a bloody nose," he adds. Source |
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