Free Republic

LONDON - The Home Office agreed on Thursday to extradite radical Muslim cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri to the United States, where he faces terrorism charges linked to the setting up of an al Qaeda camp. The Home Office decision follows a court ruling on November 15, 2007, when a judge ruled there was nothing to prevent Egyptian-born Hamza, 49, being sent to the United States to face justice. That decision required Home Office ratification. "I can confirm that today the home secretary signed an order for Abu Hamza's extradition to the United States," a Home Office spokesman said. "This was...

'Islamic preacher Abu Hamza is to be extradited to the US to face terrorism charges, the Home Office has said. The Muslim cleric was jailed in Britain for seven years in February 2006 for soliciting murder and inciting racial hatred. Home Secretary Jacqui Smith has now signed an extradition order - but Hamza has 14 days to appeal. If he does not lodge an appeal, he will be handed over to US authorities within 28 days. Birmingham Perry Bar MP Khalid Mahmood welcomed the Home Office's move calling it "a victory for British Muslims". He said: "This sends out a...

LONDON (AFP) - Abu Hamza al-Masri, the radical Egyptian Muslim cleric who was jailed here for seven years in February, falsely claimed to have fathered a child after moving to Britain, a newspaper said. Abu Hamza, who was sentenced for inciting racial hatred and soliciting murder, claimed on a birth certificate in October 1980 that he was the father of a daughter born to his first wife, Valerie Traverso, The Times said. Four days after her birth, Hamza told his lawyers to write to Britain's Home Office to apply for permission to stay in the country, saying that he had...

Cleric sent gangs to seize control of rival mosquesBy Daniel McGrory and Sean O’Neill ABU HAMZA sent teams of young supporters around the country with orders to take over other mosques. Rival clerics have told The Times that they were threatened by gangs claiming to be members of Abu Hamza’s Supporters of Sharia group. Some of the rivals were beaten up inside their own mosques, and worshippers were bullied into finding somewhere else to pray — but police refused to intervene. Abu Hamza wanted to acquire more places where he and his lieutenants could brainwash a generation of young...

LONDON - A British jury convicted radical Muslim cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri on Tuesday of fomenting racial hatred and inciting his followers to kill non-Muslims. Al-Masri, 47, the former imam at London's Finsbury Park mosque, also was convicted of possessing a terrorist document and threatening or abusive recordings. Al-Masri, Britain's best-known Islamist orator, could receive a maximum sentence of life in prison. The jury of seven men and five women found al-Masri guilty on seven of nine charges of soliciting murder. He also was convicted on two of four charges of stirring racial hatred. Though asked to stand for the...

Muslim cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri has claimed the Foreign Office and the media are controlled by Jews. Under cross-examination, he told the Old Bailey he did not believe in the state of Israel "because it means state of my death - holocaust". And he said Jews in the UK and the US also "controlled money supply". Mr Abu Hamza, 47, from west London, denies 15 charges including soliciting others to murder Jews and other non-Muslims and inciting racial hatred. "There are people who are Zionists who live outside (Israel) who are helping Zionists in Israel," he told the court...

SUICIDE bombing is a legitimate tool of war, regarded by religious scholars as “the highest form of martyrdom”, Abu Hamza al-Masri told an Old Bailey jury yesterday. The radical Muslim cleric, who is facing charges of soliciting murder and inciting racial hatred, said that he condoned suicide attacks if they were the only way that Muslims had of defending themselves. Abu Hamza sought to explain remarks that he had made in a video of a lecture delivered in Luton in 1997. Asked, during his second day of evidence, about the legitimacy of “martyrdom operations”, he said: “If it is the...

LIFE STYLE EXTRA (UK) - Muslim fanatic Abu Hamza had a hate list of the enemies of Islam, with the Jews and Christians listed at number two and three, the Old Bailey Heard today (tues). The former Imam of Finsbury Park Mosque said claimed Jews were the sons of monkeys and their influence was growing daily by invading the minds of Muslims through television, radio and literature. The list of hate was revealed in a 90 minute long audio tape anti-Semitic rant entitled 'Enemies of Islam II', recorded sometime in 1998 or 1999, which was played to the court. Egyptian-born...

Muslim cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri, most senior figure to go on trial in Britain on charges of incitement to murder, made calls for world dominated by caliph sitting in White House, prosecutor says Muslim cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri wanted a caliph sitting in the White House and said Hitler was sent into the world because Jews were blasphemous and dirty, a London court heard on Wednesday. Hamza, 47, is the most high-profile figure to go on trial in Britain on charges of incitement to murder and stirring up racial hatred since the September 11, 2001 attacks on Washington and New...

LONDON (AFP) - Abu Hamza al-Masri, the one-eyed, hook-handed Islamist cleric, appeared before London's main criminal court charged with soliciting the murder of Jews and non-Muslims and other alleged crimes. Hamza, the former imam of Finsbury Park mosque in north London, faces a total of 15 charges, including nine of "soliciting to murder" and four of using language aimed at stirring up racial hatred. One of the charges is under the Terrorism Act 2000, accusing him of possessing a document, "The Encyclopaedia of the Afghani Jihad", which contained information "of a kind likely to be useful to a person committing...

Fiery Islamic preacher Abu Hamza reportedly arrested in London

Report: Sheikh Abu Hamza to appeal expulsion from UK Until his suspension by the Charity Commission last April, Sheikh Abu Hamza preached at Londond's notorious Finsbury Park mosque. Home Secretary David Blunkett then withdrew Hamza's British citizenship under the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002. But his solicitors, Arani & Co., have confirmed that he has launched an appeal against his deportation, the BBC reports. "Every right-minded person in Britain will be outraged at the thought of taxpayers' money being spent on Hamza's legal battle," British shadow home secretary Oliver Letwin said. "He is a man who clearly has no...

Muslim cleric citizenship revoked From PA News David Blunkett, the Home Secretary, today confirmed that he has written to radical Muslim cleric Abu Hamza revoking his British citizenship. Mr Blunkett said he had taken the action under the new Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act, which came into effect earlier this week. The Act allows the Government to remove the UK citizenship of a holder of joint citizenship if it is believed their activities threaten the national interests of the country. “I have sent him a letter withdrawing his citizenship,” Mr Blunkett told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. A spokesman for...