Charges against Abu Hamza
by Brian Whitaker
Originally published in Middle East
International,
5 November 2004
Moves to extradite Abu Hamza al-Masri from
Britain to the United States have been put on hold following a
decision by the British authorities to bring 16 charges
against him - including incitement to murder.
Last week the fiery London-based cleric
made a virtual appearance at the Central Criminal Court by
video link from Belmarsh high-security prison where he has
been held since the US issued its extradition warrant last
May. Bail was refused.
Under British law he now faces 10 charges
that he ‘did solicit or encourage’ others at public
meetings to kill non-Muslims, including four charges that
refer specifically to attacks on Jews. He is accused under the
1861 Offences Against the Persons Act and could face a maximum
sentence of life imprisonment if he is convicted.
He also 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’.
A further charge under the same law is
that he possessed eight ‘threatening, abusive or
insulting’ audio and video tapes which he intended to
distribute or play to stir up racial hatred.
The final charge, under Section 58 of the
Terrorism Act 2000, is possession of a document alleged to
contain information ‘of a kind likely to be useful to a
person committing or preparing an act of terrorism’.
The American extradition request was the
first to be made under a new and controversial ‘fast
track’ procedure which in Abu Hamza’s case now seems
likely to be anything but fast. The British charges take
priority and the extradition hearings will not resume until
they have all been deal with.
Yemen has also been seeking to extradite
Abu Hamza but it has no extradition agreement with Britain.
For several years, Egyptian-born Abu Hamza
controlled Finsbury Park Mosque in north London where he also
ran an organisation called Supporters of Sharia. He was banned
from preaching in the mosque last year but until his arrest
continued to preach and lead prayers in the street outside.
Meanwhile, his treatment in jail has been
causing controversy. He initially claimed that he had been
offered non-halal food and sections of the British press have
complained about the cost of his care.
Abu Hamza lost both hands and an eye some
years ago and wore metal hooks on the ends of his arms. These
were removed, allegedly for security reasons, following his
arrest. More recently he has been provided with new aluminium
hooks, at a cost of £5,000 to the National Health Service. He
also reportedly receives attention from a male nurse for
several hours a day.
|