Radical Muslim cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri was found guilty yesterday of incitement of racial hatred and soliciting murder charges after a criminal trial in London.
Hamza, 47, was convicted of six of nine soliciting-to-murder charges and two of four charges of "using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behavior with the intention of stirring up racial hatred."
The hook-handed, one-eyed imam was also found guilty of possessing the 11-volume Encyclopaedia of Afghani Jihad containing information "likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism."
Hamza, who was born in Egypt but is British by marriage, stared straight ahead as each verdict was announced and showed no emotion afterwards. He was led to the cells after consulting with his legal teams.
The guilty verdicts effectively means that Hamza cannot be immediately extradited to the US, which wants to put him on trial on charges relating to an alleged al-Qaeda training camp in the Pacific Northwest.
Hamza was accused by the prosecution in London of being a "recruiting sergeant" for terrorism and murder through his pronouncements against Jews, non-Muslims and what he called "apostates" -- lapsed followers of Islam or Arab leaders "too close" to Western governments.
The calls were made during a number of lectures and sermons advocating his own version of jihad to establish a worldwide Islamic caliphate under Shariah law.
In one of the speeches, Hamza, the former imam of Finsbury Park Mosque, north London, preached that killing non-Muslims was justified in any circumstances "even if there is no reason for it."
Prosecutor David Perry told the jury Hamza used "the most dangerous weapons available -- a great religion, Islam, his position as a civic leader and the power of words, his own words."
"Not only that, you may also think he betrayed his true nature and his own recognition of the fact that in his talks he was preaching terrorism, homicidal violence and hatred," he added.
Hamza, ousted from the mosque in early 2003 and forced to preach to his followers in the street outside, made "clear encouragements" to kill.
"The defendant [Hamza] was a recruiting sergeant, a recruiting officer, for terrorism and murder. In addition to his role as recruiting officer for homicidal violence, we say he was also preaching hatred," Perry said.
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