Abu Hamza al Masri, a Muslim cleric, talks during a press conference in central London Wednesday, January 20, 1999. It was reported that Abu Hamza was arrested Thursday May 27, 2004 at his home in west London on an extradition warrant issued by the US government. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)
Radical Muslim Cleric Arrested in London
By MICHAEL McDONOUGH, Associated Press Writer
LONDON - Police on Thursday arrested a radical Muslim cleric suspected of helping the deadly 2000 suicide attack on the USS Cole, and the United States sought his extradition on terrorism charges.
The arrest of Abu Hamza al-Masri came a day after top U.S. law enforcement officials warned that a stream of credible intelligence indicates a major terror attack could occur in the United States over the summer, and the FBI posted a list of seven wanted al-Qaida operatives.
Al-Masri — who has one eye and hooks for hands, which he says were lost fighting Soviet troops in Afghanistan in the 1980s — is not among the seven wanted figures.
But the Egyptian-born cleric has been the focus of terror suspicions for years in Britain. He formerly preached at a London mosque linked to several terrorist suspects, including Sept. 11 suspect Zacarias Moussaoui and "shoe bomber" Richard Reid.
The British government has also accused him of providing "advice and support" to al-Qaida and the Islamic Army of Aden, the organization that claimed responsibility for the attack on the USS Cole that killed 17 sailors off the coast of Yemen.
Attorney General John Ashcroft planned a news conference later Thursday in New York to detail the charges against al-Masri, according to a senior U.S. law enforcement official speaking on condition of anonymity.
The exact nature of the charges could not immediately be learned because they remained under court seal, but the official said they are terrorism-related charges. The official had no timetable on when al-Masri would be extradited to the United States.
London's Metropolitan Police press office refused to confirm the detention, saying only that officers from the Extradition and International Assistance Unit arrested a "British citizen, aged 47" at about 3 a.m. Thursday following an American request for his extradition. It said he was to appear at Bow Street Magistrates' Court later Thursday.
Police sources, speaking to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity, confirmed that al-Masri was the man detained.
Al-Masri's lawyer, Maddrassar Arani, told British Broadcasting Corp. radio that she had spoken to her client, who was being held in a central London police station.
"He was quite calm about it," Arani said. "He said take your time and come down whenever you can."
She added that she didn't know what the charges were against al-Masri as she hadn't seen a copy of the warrant.
The U.S. Embassy in London said it doesn't comment on ongoing investigations. The Home Office declined to comment on the arrest.
Anti-terrorist officers also conducted a search of al-Masri's west London home, police said.
Al-Masri, one of Britain's best known Islamic radicals, has been fighting deportation by the government.
The British government revoked his British citizenship in April 2003, calling him a threat to the country's interests. He has appealed that decision to a special immigration tribunal and a ruling isn't expected until early next year.
He is also wanted in Yemen on charges of orchestrating terrorism there from Britain.
At an immigration hearing last month, a government lawyer said al-Masri had "provided advice and support to terrorist groups" and encouraged others to engage in jihad, "including fighting overseas and engaging in terrorist acts."
Al-Masri, who married a British woman and took British citizenship in 1981, denies any involvement in violence and says he is only a spokesman for political causes.
He was the head preacher at Finsbury Park Mosque in London, which Moussaoui and Reid also attended.
Al-Masri often sparked outrage with his sermons — calling the invasion of Iraq a "war against Islam," claiming the Sept. 11 attacks were a Jewish plot and calling the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster a "punishment from Allah" because Christian, Jewish and Hindu astronauts were aboard.
The mosque was shut down by its trustees after a police anti-terrorist raid in January 2003. The next month al-Masri was banned from preaching there by a government body because his "extreme and political" statements conflicted with the mosque's charitable status.
Since then, the cleric has led Friday prayers on the street outside, under the watch of police.