The radical British Muslim cleric Abu Hamza faces 11 terrorism-related charges, including hostage-taking and conspiracy to take hostages, which carry a maximum sentence of the death penalty or life imprisonment, US Attorney General John Ashcroft said Thursday.
"At the request of the United States Hamza was arrested earlier today by [London's] Metropolitan police [and] is being held on terrorism charges that were filed in the United States," Ashcroft said at a press conference in New York.
"We are actively seeking Hamza's extradition from Great Britain to face justice in our courts on these serious charges," Ashcroft said.
"Hamza faces charges of conspiracy to take hostages, hostage- taking in connection with an attack in Yemen in December of 1998," Ashcroft said.
"The hostage-taking resulted in the death of four hostages," he said.
Other charges concern Hamza's alleged attempts to set up a training camp for violent jihad in Bly, Oregon, in late 1999 and early 2000.
stiff penalties
He is also accused of providing material support to al-Qaeda to facilitate a holy war in Afghanistan and conspiracy to supply goods and services to the country's ousted Taliban regime.
In a strident presentation, Ashcroft, a hardliner within the administration of US President George W. Bush, made it clear that he will be seeking the stiffest penalties against Hamza if he is found guilty.
"As today's arrest makes clear, the department of justice is bringing the full weight of the criminal law against those who support the activities of the terrorists," he said.
"The United States will use every available diplomatic, legal and administrative tool to pursue and prosecute those who facilitate terrorist activity and we will not stop until the war on terrorism is won.
"The maximum sentence for hostage-taking, the charges directed toward Hamza, is death penalty or life imprisonment. Hamza also faces a maximum sentence of up to 100 years in prison on the additional charges contained in the indictment," Ashcroft said.
`presumed innocent'
A federal grand jury in the southern district of New York returned the 11-count indictment that was unsealed yesterday. Ashcroft later said that: "An indictment contains allegations of course, and defendants are presumed innocent under our law until and unless proven in a court of law."
The announcement came as Bush's critics accused him of using the domestic front of the war on terror to divert attention from bad news coming out of Iraq and his plunge in the polls in the run-up to the presidential election. Fighting the war on terror is one of the few areas where Bush still has positive ratings.
jihad in oregon
On Wednesday Ashcroft warned that the White House had credible intelligence suggesting that al-Qaida was "almost ready to attack the United States," and could do so in the next few months.
Harold Schaitberger, head of the International Association of Fire Fighters, echoed many Democrats when he said the warning was "politically convenient at best."
The allegations against Hamza have been known for some time. They include allegations that in 1998 he plotted to take hostages in Yemen and provided a satellite phone to terrorists who took 16 hostages.
It is further alleged that he stockpiled weapons and ammunition in the US and received a faxed proposal to set up a jihad training camp in Oregon, in the western US.
"This war against terrorism is being fought on many fronts," Ashcroft said.
"It is a war where innocent lives are endangered, not only by the terrorist who carries the bomb but by those who recruit and equip terrorists," he said.
He thanked London's police for their assistance in arresting Hamza and "for their ongoing efforts in the war -- the international effort in the war on terror."
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