Muslim cleric on 16 terror and racism charges

BRITAIN: British authorities have charged the radical Muslim cleric, Sheikh Abu Hamza, who was active in north London, with …

BRITAIN: British authorities have charged the radical Muslim cleric, Sheikh Abu Hamza, who was active in north London, with soliciting the murder of Jews and other so-called non-believers, stirring racial hatred and possessing a document likely to be useful to terrorists, writes Frank Millar in London

The one-eyed former imam and one-time Soho nightclub bouncer faced the possibility of life imprisonment in a British jail last night after being charged with 16 offences, the prosecution of which will take now precedence over attempts to extradite him to the United States.

The Egyptian-born cleric - born Mustafa Kamel Mustafa in Alexandria, of middle-class parents - has always denied any involvement in terrorism. But at the Magistrates' Court at the high-security Belmarsh Prison yesterday, where he has been held since May at the request of the US authorities - Sheikh Abu Hamza faced 10 specific charges of soliciting murder under Section 4 of the 1861 Offences Against the Person Act.

Four of the charges relate specifically to soliciting the murder of Jews, and all relate to offences alleged to have taken place on or before May 27th, 2004.

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Four charges were brought under the Public Order Act, 1986, of "using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour with the intention of stirring up racial hatred."

He was also accused under Section 58 of the Terrorism Act, 2000, of possessing a document containing information "of a kind likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing to commit an act of terrorism." And a final charge said Sheikh Hamza was in possession of eight threatening, abusive or insulting video and audio recordings, which he intended to distribute to stir up racial hatred.

Sheikh Hamza - the former imam at Finsbury Park mosque in north London, from which he was banned by the Charity Commission last year - left the dock several times during nearly three hours of proceedings yesterday complaining of feeling unwell.

Dressed in a khaki overshirt, the 47-year-old spoke only to confirm his name and date of birth. He was joined in the dock by five prison officers and otherwise listened intently to extensive argument about his case involving the prosecutor, Ms Deborah Walsh, and his own barrister, Mr Edward Fitzgerald.

There was no application for bail, and Judge Timothy Workman told him he was being remanded in custody until October 26th, when he will appear for a preliminary hearing at the Old Bailey.

The trial is expected some time next year, while the effect of the British charges against him is that his US extradition hearing which was due to start yesterday has been put on hold.

Mr Hugo Keith, the lawyer representing the US authorities, formally asked the court to adjourn the extradition case while the domestic charges were dealt with. He said the US would ask for the extradition hearing to be resumed after the British proceedings were concluded.

Sheikh Abu Hamza arrived in London in 1979 with plans to become a civil engineer and received his British citizenship - which the Home Office is currently seeking to revoke - after marrying a western woman, Ms Valerie Fleming, in 1981. The couple divorced after five years.

The hand and eye injuries which help make him one of the most distinctive radical Muslim clerics in Britain were sustained in Afghanistan clearing landmines for the mujahideen.