A British judge has sentenced radical Muslim cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri to seven years in prison for promoting the slaying of non-Muslims as a "religious duty" when he led a London mosque seen as the spiritual haven for two al-Qaeda-linked terrorists.
Judge Anthony Hughes told the former imam of the Finsbury Park mosque on Tuesday that his speeches had endangered people around the world. The mosque -- described by the head of London's Metropolitan Police anti-terrorism unit Peter Clarke as a "honeypot for extremists" -- was attended by both Sept. 11 plotter Zacarias Moussaoui and "shoe bomber" Richard Reid.
Moussaoui pleaded guilty last year to plotting with al-Qaeda to fly planes into US buildings, he faces trial in the US on terrorism conspiracy charges. Reid was convicted of attempting to blow up an American Airlines flight in 2001 with a shoe bomb.
PHOTO: AFP
"You helped to create an atmosphere in which to kill has become regarded by some as not only a legitimate course but as a moral and religious duty in pursuit of perceived justice," the judge told al-Masri.
The one-eyed, hook-handed preacher sat impassively in the wood-paneled dock as the foreman of the jury read out guilty verdicts on 11 out of 15 counts, including incitement to murder, fomenting racial hatred, possessing a terrorist document and possessing abusive recordings. He had faced a maximum of life in prison.
Hughes sentenced al-Masri to seven years on the most serious charges of soliciting murder, and allowed him to serve his sentences on the other charges concurrently.
"I am quite satisfied that you are and were a person whose views created a real danger to the lives of innocent people in different parts of the world," he said.
The cleric's attorneys said he planned to appeal. Defense lawyer Muddassar Arani said al-Masri believed he was "a prisoner of faith, and this is a slow martyrdom for him."
A supporter in the public gallery shouted "God Bless You Sheik Hamza" as the cleric was led out of the courtroom. Others shouted to him in Arabic.
Authorities in Britain and the US claim al-Masri was at the center of a web of terrorist activity from the 1990s until police raided the Finsbury Park mosque in 2003.
He has been charged in the US on an 11-count indictment with trying to establish a terrorist training camp in Oregon, conspiring to take hostages in Yemen and facilitating terror training in Afghanistan.
Under British law, the domestic charges took precedence over the extradition case, but al-Masri could now be sent to the US for prosecution there if US authorities request it.
In Washington, US Justice Department spokesman Bryan Sierra said the US "stands ready to resume the extradition proceedings against Abu Hamza when British law allows."
In his trial at London's Central Criminal Court, al-Masri, whose real name is Mustafa Kamel Mustafa, faced charges of soliciting the murder of others, "namely a person or persons who did not believe in the Islamic faith; using threatening or abusive language designed to stir racial hatred; possessing threatening or abusive recordings; and possessing a document likely to be useful in terrorism -- the Encyclopedia of the Afghani Jihad."
The cleric, who claims to have lost his eye and both hands in Afghanistan during the Soviet occupation, became a high-profile radical and a hate figure for British tabloids, who called him "Hooky" and "Dr. Hook."
After he was expelled from the mosque by administrators in 2003, he led Friday prayers on the street outside until his 2004 arrest on a US extradition warrant. He has been detained in the high-security Belmarsh prison ever since.
During the trial, al-Masri took the stand and denied any involvement in violence.
DITCH TACTICS: Kenyan officers were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch suspected to have been deliberately dug by Haitian gang members A Kenyan policeman deployed in Haiti has gone missing after violent gangs attacked a group of officers on a rescue mission, a UN-backed multinational security mission said in a statement yesterday. The Kenyan officers on Tuesday were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch “suspected to have been deliberately dug by gangs,” the statement said, adding that “specialized teams have been deployed” to search for the missing officer. Local media outlets in Haiti reported that the officer had been killed and videos of a lifeless man clothed in Kenyan uniform were shared on social media. Gang violence has left
US Vice President J.D. Vance on Friday accused Denmark of not having done enough to protect Greenland, when he visited the strategically placed and resource-rich Danish territory coveted by US President Donald Trump. Vance made his comment during a trip to the Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, a visit viewed by Copenhagen and Nuuk as a provocation. “Our message to Denmark is very simple: You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland,” Vance told a news conference. “You have under-invested in the people of Greenland, and you have under-invested in the security architecture of this
Japan unveiled a plan on Thursday to evacuate around 120,000 residents and tourists from its southern islets near Taiwan within six days in the event of an “emergency”. The plan was put together as “the security situation surrounding our nation grows severe” and with an “emergency” in mind, the government’s crisis management office said. Exactly what that emergency might be was left unspecified in the plan but it envisages the evacuation of around 120,000 people in five Japanese islets close to Taiwan. China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has stepped up military pressure in recent years, including
UNREST: The authorities in Turkey arrested 13 Turkish journalists in five days, deported a BBC correspondent and on Thursday arrested a reporter from Sweden Waving flags and chanting slogans, many hundreds of thousands of anti-government demonstrators on Saturday rallied in Istanbul, Turkey, in defence of democracy after the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu which sparked Turkey’s worst street unrest in more than a decade. Under a cloudless blue sky, vast crowds gathered in Maltepe on the Asian side of Turkey’s biggest city on the eve of the Eid al-Fitr celebration which started yesterday, marking the end of Ramadan. Ozgur Ozel, chairman of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), which organized the rally, said there were 2.2 million people in the crowd, but
RSS