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.
NO EXCUSES: Marcos said his administration was acting on voters’ demands, but an academic said the move was emotionally motivated after a poor midterm showing Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr yesterday sought the resignation of all his Cabinet secretaries, in a move seen as an attempt to reset the political agenda and assert his authority over the second half of his single six-year term. The order came after the president’s allies failed to win a majority of Senate seats contested in the 12 polls on Monday last week, leaving Marcos facing a divided political and legislative landscape that could thwart his attempts to have an ally succeed him in 2028. “He’s talking to the people, trying to salvage whatever political capital he has left. I think it’s
Polish presidential candidates offered different visions of Poland and its relations with Ukraine in a televised debate ahead of next week’s run-off, which remains on a knife-edge. During a head-to-head debate lasting two hours, centrist Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski, from Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s governing pro-European coalition, faced the Eurosceptic historian Karol Nawrocki, backed by the right-wing populist Law and Justice party (PiS). The two candidates, who qualified for the second round after coming in the top two places in the first vote on Sunday last week, clashed over Poland’s relations with Ukraine, EU policy and the track records of their
UNSCHEDULED VISIT: ‘It’s a very bulky new neighbor, but it will soon go away,’ said Johan Helberg of the 135m container ship that run aground near his house A man in Norway awoke early on Thursday to discover a huge container ship had run aground a stone’s throw from his fjord-side house — and he had slept through the commotion. For an as-yet unknown reason, the 135m NCL Salten sailed up onto shore just meters from Johan Helberg’s house in a fjord near Trondheim in central Norway. Helberg only discovered the unexpected visitor when a panicked neighbor who had rung his doorbell repeatedly to no avail gave up and called him on the phone. “The doorbell rang at a time of day when I don’t like to open,” Helberg told television
A team of doctors and vets in Pakistan has developed a novel treatment for a pair of elephants with tuberculosis (TB) that involves feeding them at least 400 pills a day. The jumbo effort at the Karachi Safari Park involves administering the tablets — the same as those used to treat TB in humans — hidden inside food ranging from apples and bananas, to Pakistani sweets. The amount of medication is adjusted to account for the weight of the 4,000kg elephants. However, it has taken Madhubala and Malika several weeks to settle into the treatment after spitting out the first few doses they