Abu Hamza fails to halt extradition

Radical Islamist cleric Abu Hamza has failed in a last-ditch High Court bid to halt his extradition from the United Kingdom to…

Radical Islamist cleric Abu Hamza has failed in a last-ditch High Court bid to halt his extradition from the United Kingdom to the United States to stand trial on terrorism charges.

Judges dismissed his request for more medical tests that his lawyers said would prove he was unfit to be extradited, clearing the way for a handover.

The decision caps a long legal battle, which saw the cleric launch a fresh appeal in Britain last week after the European Court of Human Rights rejected his earlier bid to avoid being sent to the United States.

US authorities allege in an indictment filed in April 2004 that Abu Hamza, who the United States identifies as Mustafa Kamel Mustafa, supported the Taliban with money and troops, and aided a kidnapping in Yemen in 1998 that left four hostages dead.

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Federal prosecutors in New York also allege that he attempted to set up a terrorist training camp from 1999 to 2000 in Bly, Oregon.

He was originally sentenced by a UK court in 2006 to seven years in prison for encouraging his followers to kill Jews and other non-Muslims in sermons between 1997 and 2000.

Agencies