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SUICIDE bombing is a legitimate tool of war, regarded by religious scholars as “the highest form of martyrdom”, Abu Hamza al-Masri told an Old Bailey jury yesterday. The radical Muslim cleric, who is facing charges of soliciting murder and inciting racial hatred, said that he condoned suicide attacks if they were the only way that Muslims had of defending themselves. Abu Hamza sought to explain remarks that he had made in a video of a lecture delivered in Luton in 1997. Asked, during his second day of evidence, about the legitimacy of “martyrdom operations”, he said: “If it is the...

COPIES of the Koran were handed to the jurors in the Abu Hamza trial yesterday as his defence argued that some of the cleric’s “offensive” statements were drawn directly from Islam’s holy book. Edward Fitzgerald, QC, for the defence, said that Abu Hamza’s interpretation of the Koran was that it imposed an obligation on Muslims to do jihad and fight in the defence of their religion. He said that the Crown case against the former imam of Finsbury Park Mosque was “simplistic in the extreme”. He added: “It is said he was preaching murder, but he was actually preaching from...

LIFE STYLE EXTRA (UK) - Muslim fanatic Abu Hamza had a hate list of the enemies of Islam, with the Jews and Christians listed at number two and three, the Old Bailey Heard today (tues). The former Imam of Finsbury Park Mosque said claimed Jews were the sons of monkeys and their influence was growing daily by invading the minds of Muslims through television, radio and literature. The list of hate was revealed in a 90 minute long audio tape anti-Semitic rant entitled 'Enemies of Islam II', recorded sometime in 1998 or 1999, which was played to the court. Egyptian-born...

"Jews know how to control people. This is how they know how to control our leaders," he said in a sermon, played on videotape to the Old Bailey jury. He also criticised the "dogs of the West" for not condemning Israel. The 47-year-old, from west London, denies 15 charges, including soliciting murder and inciting racial hatred. 'No peace treaty' Jurors on the fourth day of Mr Abu Hamza's trial heard him tell a crowd: "Now all these dogs of the West they have to go now, none of them have condemned what Israel has done to the Muslims and the...

Muslim cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri, most senior figure to go on trial in Britain on charges of incitement to murder, made calls for world dominated by caliph sitting in White House, prosecutor says Muslim cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri wanted a caliph sitting in the White House and said Hitler was sent into the world because Jews were blasphemous and dirty, a London court heard on Wednesday. Hamza, 47, is the most high-profile figure to go on trial in Britain on charges of incitement to murder and stirring up racial hatred since the September 11, 2001 attacks on Washington and New...

LONDON (AFP) - Abu Hamza al-Masri, the one-eyed, hook-handed Islamist cleric, appeared before London's main criminal court charged with soliciting the murder of Jews and non-Muslims and other alleged crimes. Hamza, the former imam of Finsbury Park mosque in north London, faces a total of 15 charges, including nine of "soliciting to murder" and four of using language aimed at stirring up racial hatred. One of the charges is under the Terrorism Act 2000, accusing him of possessing a document, "The Encyclopaedia of the Afghani Jihad", which contained information "of a kind likely to be useful to a person committing...

RADICAL cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri goes on trial in London today on 16 charges of stirring up racial hatred and urging the killing of non-Muslims. Hamza, who is also wanted by the US, will be the most high-profile figure to be tried in Britain charged with such offences since the September 11 attacks on Washington and New York. The Egyptian-born cleric faces 10 charges of using public meetings to incite his followers to kill non-Muslims. Four of the charges say he urged the killing of Jews. He is also accused of using threatening, abusive or insulting behaviour with intent to...

IN TODAY'S SUN Hamza £25k kitchen stink Behind bars ... Abu Hamza     By ANTHONY FRANCE HOOK-handed cleric Abu Hamza’s council house is getting a £25,000 makeover at taxpayers’ expense — while he is in jail awaiting trial on terror charges. A plush kitchen and bathroom have been installed — and the Muslim dad of eight’s five-bed home in Shepherd’s Bush, West London, has been redecorated.   http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,31-2005390613,00.html Home truths MANY people in this country have to work hard for long hours to keep a roof over their heads and clothes on their kids’ backs. Not so Abu Hamza....

LIFE STYLE EXTRA (UK) - Hook-handed cleric Abu Hamza is covered from head to foot in scabs because he has an ailment that makes his skin bleed. Inmates at top-security Belmarsh prison in south London were already up in arms about the stink Hamza is causing - by refusing to take showers. Now the Islamic fundamentalist, who used to preach at London's Finsbury Park Mosque, is leaving a trail of "white pellets" behind him as they fall from the scabs. A prison nurse has apparently been applying ointment but with little success. A prison insider said today: "Hamza has been...

A suspected suicide bomber in the London attacks revered Osama bin Laden and was upset over the deaths of civilians in Iraq, Afghanistan and Kashmir, a newspaper in Pakistan reported today. A day earlier, a Pakistan intelligence official said an “important” man suspected of links with the London attacks had been arrested in the eastern city of Lahore. The official did not name the suspect, nor provide details of his alleged role in the bombings. Authorities are investigating whether the suspects received training or other assistance from militants in Pakistan. The English-language Dawn newspaper quoted an uncle of Shahzad Tanweer,...

Federal inmate James Ujaama, the former Seattle man who pleaded guilty to aiding the Taliban, has been moved to New York to testify before a grand jury investigating a militant London cleric believed to be a top al-Qaida recruiter. Ujaama, 37, is the key witness in a criminal case federal prosecutors are building against Abu Hamza al-Masri, a former imam at the Finsbury Park Mosque in London, said federal law-enforcement sources who agreed to speak only if they were not identified. A federal grand jury in Manhattan is investigating Abu Hamza's alleged efforts to help Ujaama and others set up...

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Investigators probing the London terror bombings are focusing on an elusive British Muslim suspect who is connected to a previous plot to set up a terrorist training camp in rural southern Oregon, according to U.S. counterterrorism officials. Officials told both NBC News and CNN Wednesday that Haroon Rashid Aswat, believed to be a mastermind of the London bombings, is the same British-born Muslim of Indian descent who scouted a Bly, Oregon ranch to set up a terror camp. These officials said Aswat, a Pakistani national being sought for questioning as a person of interest by British authorities,...

Diverse mosaic of al Qaeda sympathizers make British capital their base LONDON - On the morning after bombs ripped through the London Underground and crumpled a double-decker bus, four security guards escorted a one-eyed, Egyptian-born cleric, his arms amputated below the elbows from Afghan war injuries, onto the elevated dock of Courtroom No. 1 in Old Bailey, the capital's principal criminal court. Abu Hamza Masri, for years a blood-curdling preacher at a North London mosque allegedly visited by shoe bomber Richard Reid and hijacker trainee Zacarias Moussaoui, listened silently Friday as his lawyer argued about his indictment last January on...

LONDON -- Neatly shorn and bespectacled, Britain's best-known Islamic radical appeared in court Tuesday, charged with encouraging the murder of Jews and other non-Muslims. The fiery cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri sat uncharacteristically silent in the dock at the Old Bailey as lawyers outlined legal arguments ahead of his jury trial. Tuesday had been set for the trial's beginning, but the first session was taken up with legal arguments, which are expected to continue all week. Court orders forbid any reporting of the arguments, which take place without a jury present. Wearing a blue smock with hair gray hair and beard...

LONDON, England (AP) -- Radical Islamic cleric Abu Hamza al-Mazri has appeared in a London court on charges including encouraging the murder of Jews and other non-Muslims. Tuesday had been set for the start of Abu Hamza's trial, but the first session was taken up with legal arguments, which are expected to continue all week. Court orders forbid any reporting of the arguments, which take place without a jury present. Abu Hamza, wearing a blue smock and with neatly trimmed gray hair and beard, was surrounded by four guards as he stood in the dock at the Central Criminal Court....

BAGHDAD, July 4 (KUNA) - The US forces arrested last month an Al-Qaeda member in Mosul, north of Iraq, a statement for the Multi-National Forces said Monday. The US forces arrested Tunisian national, Emad Nasser Ahmad, known as Abu Hamza during a raid in Mosul, the statement added. According to the statement, Abu Hamza is responsible for bringing to Iraq Arab militants and sheltering over 100 suicide bombers to carry out their attacks in Mosul.

Banned in the UK: Abu Hamza al-Masri Quotes from Terror Tracker Neil Doyle is the author of Terror Tracker and runs his own website here. I've been aware of Neil's work for some time. Much of what he publishes on his website mirrors my own anti-terrorism posts. A new and updated paperback version of Terror Tracker is soon to be available in both the U.S. and U.K. In the U.S. you can order it at Amazon here. One important aspect of the book is that it reveals statements from a former imam at London's Finsburry Park Mosque, the radical hook-handed...

Bellevue firm tied to pro-Hamas Web siteBy Peter LewisSeattle Times staff reporter, April 23, 2005 A Bellevue company has helped support a Web site dedicated to advancing Hamas, an Islamic organization the U.S. government considers a terrorist group. The site features videos of Humvees blowing up and U.S. soldiers being killed. The site was down temporarily yesterday but was working again last evening. Content included a training video of the "Mujahideen Army" and a message to the American people that said in part they had "elected criminals and are responsible for their actions." The Bellevue company, eNom, apparently is...

KARACHI: Pakistan is likely to hand over the custody of Abu Omar, one of al-Qaeda militants nabbed from Gulshan-e-Maymar on Thursday, to the United States in a day or two, while his wife and three sons are likely to be flown to Morocco - their homeland - on Saturday. Highly placed sources disclosed this on Friday. "We have completed our investigations and are now satisfied that Abu Omar was not involved in any subversive activity in Pakistan," said a senior intelligence official, who wished not to be named. He said: "The investigations revealed that Abu Omar was trying to...

EXCLUSIVE Was it a right hook or left hook? Thumped ... Abu Hamza       By NEIL SYSON HOOK-HANDED Abu Hamza has been viciously attacked by a fellow jail inmate, it emerged last night.The fanatical Muslim cleric, 47, was thumped inside London’s top-security Belmarsh prison, a jail source said.  DID you whack Hook? If so call The Sun on 020 7782 4105. And by the way, WELL DONE!

Jihad websites removed from computer By PAUL LUNGEN Staff Reporter RackForce Wholesale Hosting Solutions, an Internet company in Kelowna, B.C., has removed six sites from its computers that promoted jihad and vilified Jews. One of the websites, www.shareeah.org, had connections to Hamas, the Palestinian terrorist organization and was being investigated by the RCMP. Operated by Abu Hamza Al-Misri, a terrorism suspect in prison in Britain and waiting deportation to the United States, the site promoted and supported suicide bombing. Once the company determined it violated its acceptable use policy, RackForce decided to remove it along with five other sites...

Hamas link to London mosqueNick Fielding and Abul Taher, February 13, 2005 A MUSLIM leader appointed to help to run the recently reopened Finsbury Park mosque in north London is a former military commander of Hamas, the Palestinian terrorist organisation. Mohammed Kassem Sawalha is one of five trustees appointed to give the mosque a fresh start. The mosque was closed last year after becoming a centre of Islamic militancy under Abu Hamza al-Masri, the radical cleric facing charges in Britain and America. Sawalha’s link with Hamas emerged after he was named as a co-conspirator in an American court case involving...

London –Radical Muslim cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri, who is in a British jail on incitement to murder charges, is to sue welfare officials for thousands of pounds (dollars) in extra state benefits, a newspaper said. Hamza, who is due in court next month on incitement to murder charges, claims he has been denied benefits worth 200 pounds (290 euros, 389 dollars) a week for nearly three years, The Sun newspaper said. His family are already taking in benefits worth over 1,000 pounds a week, it said. Meanwhile, he is kept at the taxpayers' expense in jail, has his own personal...

EXCLUSIVE Hook sues for new hand-out Suing ... Hamza       By JOHN ASKILL LOATHED cleric Abu Hamza is suing benefit chiefs from his jail cell — for stopping cash over his alleged terror links. Hook-handed fanatic Hamza, 47, claims he is owed thousands of pounds over nearly three years — despite his family getting £1,000-a- week hand-outs. A jail source said: “He has a cheek.”      Hamza already gets this lot...   Rent-free £500k house for wife and eight children  £2million from the taxpayer to fund 7-year legal fight against deportation  Bed-linen changed daily plus help to...

Hamza charged under UK terror act Muslim cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri has been charged with 16 offences including soliciting to murder and possession of a terrorist document. He appeared at the magistrates' court at Belmarsh prison, where he has been since May at the request of the US. The UK charges mean Mr Abu Hamza's US extradition hearing on terror-related matters - due to start on Tuesday - has been put on hold. The Egyptian-born cleric has always denied any involvement in terrorism. Mr Abu Hamza now faces 10 charges of soliciting to murder and four charges of using threatening,...

October 17, 2004 Hamza 'linked to terror camp' Abu Hamza, the radical Muslim cleric, allegedly arranged for one of his British followers to attend a terrorist training camp in Afghanistan run by an Al-Qaeda commander, according to American legal claims, writes Dipesh Gadher.Feroz Abbasi, 24, a former computer student who is now being held at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, allegedly travelled to Pakistan on Hamza’s advice around November 2000 and was allegedly given instructions to seek out the commander about six months later. Court papers filed in New York charging Hamza with 11 terrorism-related offences claim that the trip...

  Abu Hamza ... will be charged         US fury over hook trial By SIMON HUGHES  HOOK-handed cleric Abu Hamza is set to face terrorism charges in Britain next week — a move certain to infuriate the United States.Washington wants him to face a terror trial over there after issuing an extradition warrant.But a Whitehall source said yesterday: “Hamza will definitely be charged. It is just a question of what with.”Crown Prosecution Service lawyers — who consulted and were sanctioned by the Attorney General Lord Goldsmith — have advised police to charge the ranting cleric with...

Radical Muslim cleric Abu Hamza will face terrorism charges in Britain. He is alleged to have given al Qaeda terrorists logistical and financial support. Hamza, 47, is already in Belmarsh jail in London as part of extradition proceedings brought by the US. Crown Prosecution Service lawyers, who consulted Attorney General Lord Goldsmith, have advised police to charge the Egyptian cleric with terrorist offences. The British charges now take precedence and he will be tried in the UK. It menas Britain risks a high-level disagreement with US officials. Legal sources said the case had "deeply political" ramifications and the decision to...

LONDON (AFP) - Radical Islamic cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri has been de-arrested, but remains detained as authorities examine his possible extradition to the United States to face terrorism-related charges. British police said early Wednesday they had de-arrested a 47-year-old man previously held on suspicion of being involved in the preparation of acts of terrorism, but declined to identify him as Abu Hamza. Hamza, 47, was arrested last Thursday in his cell in the Belmarsh high-security prison under Britain's Terrorism Act 2000 on "suspicion of being involved in the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism" within Britain. Police at...

British prison officials have issued a written apology to suspected Muslim terrorist Abu Hamza and others for offering pork as a prison dinner, The Sun reports. Prison governor Geoff Hughes sent a letter of apology to all inmates, saying the mistake should never have happened. Spicy pork chops were described as suitable for Halal diets. Clearly that is nonsense, he wrote. A prison worker told the newspaper Hamza was livid the Muslim dietary code was ignored. The Muslims saw it as some sort of planned insult to their religion but that's crazy. It was just a mistake, he said. Hughes...

San Jose Website Incites Murder of British PeopleBritish Muslim leaders angry: Terror leaflets found at mosqueBy Jeanette Oldham, Sunday Mercury, Aug 15 2004 _______ Hundreds of leaflets urging Muslims to become terrorist fighters have been distributed at a Midland mosque.Police have been called in to investigate after the flyers were found at Birmingham Central Mosque last week.The leaflets urge worshippers to become Mujahideen fighters and ask them to 'pray for death and decay to be visited upon the West'.The literature bears the name of a group called Ahle Sunnah Wal Jamah, which mosque officials say is often used as an...

A JAIL boss apologised to fanatic Abu Hamza and other Muslim terror suspects when they were offered pork for dinner. They were furious when “spicy pork chops” was listed on the prison menu. Despite a Muslim ban on eating pigs they were told the meal was “suitable for Halal diets”. Hook-handed cleric Hamza is in Belmarsh jail, South East London, fighting extradition to the US on a terror rap. Governor Geoff Hughes sent a letter of apology to all inmates. He wrote: “The mistake should never have happened. Spicy pork chops were described as suitable for Halal diets. Clearly that...

  Tracking Terror In Tangled WebLONDON, Aug. 17, 2004  (Photo: CBS/AP) Using proxy servers continents away, terrorists can graft their sites anywhere. Accused terrorist Abu Hamza al Masri was caught in an Internet sting.  (Photo: CBS) (CBS) If the pen is mightier than the sword, the keyboard has become the new weapon in the war of terror, promoting it and fighting it. As CBS News Correspondent Mark Phillips reports, sometimes, the intent is simply propaganda. Sometimes, deeper in the net, hidden within other sites, is something more sinister: sites advocating violence, perhaps even providing instructions and commands. One site, which...

Check this out, we made the lead story at the CBS Evening News for two nights! -- JohnathanRGalt   Man Behind Terror Big's Arrest WILTSHIRE, England, Aug. 16, 2004 Glen Jenvey  (Photo: CBS) It was like dangling bait in the waters, and al Masri bit. Abu Hamza al Masri (Photo: AP) Abu Hamza al Masri (Photo: CBS) (CBS) A leafy street in an English country village might not seem like the frontline in the war on terror. But an elaborate Internet sting run from Glen Jenvey's bedroom helped bring in the man U.S. officials had long called a serious terrorist suspect but had...

Jail aid as cleric gets new hooks on NHS TERROR suspect Abu Hamza has been given new hooks on the NHS - and a £30,000-a-year nurse to wipe his backside in jail. The Muslim extremist, who has no hands, was fitted with special £5,000 replacement hooks because it was feared his original metal ones could be used as weapons. He is unable to clean himself as he could do himself an injury. So prison officials have hired a male nurse named Harry to perform the task. A prison source said: "He's known as 'Dirty Harry'. This guy has got one...

Terror suspect Abu Hamza has reportedly been handed new £5,000 hooks by the NHS and his own bottom wiper in jail. The Islamic preacher has been fitted with replacement hooks after fears his original metal ones could be used as weapons. Worries Hamza may hurt himself wiping his bottom reportedly prompted officials to hire a £30,000-a-year nurse called Harry to do the job. The prison helper already performs the role for other inmates at the top-security Belmarsh jail, and has earned the nickname Dirty Harry. A source told the Daily Mirror: "This guy has one of the worst jobs in...

Muslim cleric Abu Hamza, accused by the US of being a terrorist, was further remanded in custody when he appeared in court via video link from prison. Hamza, wearing a pale blue prison shirt with white T-shirt underneath and a skull cap, was visible from the waist up on screen at Bow Street Magistrates Court in central London. He is currently being held at the top-security Belmarsh prison in south east London. The 46-year-old, facing extradition to the US, did not speak during the 10-minute hearing but nodded his head as the clerk introduced the court. Hugo Keith, representing the...

<p>SICK footage of Muslim children re-enacting the barbaric beheading of hostages in Iraq has been put on Abu Hamza’s website.</p> <p>The film starts with a masked boy of about nine menacingly brandishing a wooden sword as he screams demands into the camera.</p>

City Journal Our Islamic Fifth Column Farrukh Dhondy Autumn 2001 My first name gives rise to confusion. It’s a common Muslim name, so people I meet, or who read my byline, assume that I am of the faith. Most recently, in response to a column I write for an Indian paper, in which I confessed to having met a few terrorists in my time and attempted to analyze their limited grasp of the world, I received a lot of hate mail. Some of the e-mailers clearly thought I was a Muslim apostate and reminded me that the penalty for that...

Right-wingers and Muslims clash 2.49PM, Fri Jun 4 2004 Right-wing protesters waving Union Jack flags clashed with police and Muslims during Friday prayers outside a London mosque. Around 20 men, claiming to be from a group called the United British Alliance jeered and shouted anti-Muslim slogans from behind fences set up by police outside the Finsbury Park mosque. There were scuffles after a few protesters seemed to infiltrate the street in which prayers were being held, outside the north London mosque where radical cleric Abu Hamza was based before his arrest. The clashes were quickly broken up, and prayers were...

Radical Muslim clerk Abu Hamza has been described in court as an al Qaida "hero" like Osama bin Laden. The one-eyed, hook-handed preacher appeared at Belmarsh Magistrates' Court where he is fighting extradition to the US to face terror charges. The start of the hearing was delayed while security guards found restraining body belts after realising they could not handcuff Hamza. Wearing a red T-shirt, khaki trousers, and with a khaki coat draped across his arms, the 46-year-old spoke only to confirm his name and that he understood the US wanted to extradite him. James Lewis QC, acting for the...

May 28, 2004 -- An NYPD cop has accomplished what federal investigators and Britain's top terror-busters have failed to do for years — crack the case against a fanatical cleric implicated in a deadly Yemeni hostage-taking and a scheme to open a jihad school in Oregon. It took veteran Detective George Corey — and his precision grilling of an unidentified jihadi already in custody — to build enough evidence for British authorities to arrest London radical and accused al Qaeda recruiter Abu Hamza al-Masri, considered a top prize among terror suspects. Al-Masri — a one-eyed, hook-handed radical who has praised...

May 28, 2004 -- The land-mine explosion that cost radical Muslim imam Abu Hamza al-Masri the use of one eye and his two hands left his mind as twisted as his body. It turned the Egyptian-born al-Masri into a man who foments hate — a cleric who is regularly derided in British tabloid headlines as "The Hook." Al-Masri was named Mustaf Kamel Mustafa by his middle-class parents when he was born in Alexandria, Egypt, 47 years ago. In his mid-20s, he headed for England to become a civil engineer. He worked for a while as a bouncer at a London...

(CNSNews.com) - Abu Hamza al-Masri, the Muslim cleric arrested in Britain Thursday and facing extradition to the United States, is closely linked to the Yemeni terrorist group that claimed responsibility for bombing the USS Cole. Seventeen sailors were killed when the U.S. Navy destroyer was bombed during a refueling stop in Aden, a deep-water port on the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula, on Oct. 12, 2000. Several days after the attack, al-Masri claimed responsibility on behalf of the Aden-Abyan Islamic Army, a group with whom he was closely associated. In an interview with CNSNews.com in London, the Egyptian-born...

May 28, 2004 -- Yesterday's arrest of Britain's most no torious Muslim cleric, Abu Hamza al-Masri, on U.S. terrorism charges — coming on the heels of the Justice Department's latest terrorist advisory — is a sobering reminder that the War on Terror is not limited to the Middle East. Al-Masri (whose real name is Mustafa Kamel Mustafa) was charged in an 11-count indictment in Manhattan federal court with providing aid to al Qaeda — including trying to establish a terrorist training camp in Oregon before 9/11. The indictment was handed up last month; it was only unsealed after British police...

May 28, 2004 -- Hero Detective George Corey couldn't wait to join the ranks of the elite FBI-NYPD joint terrorist task force after the 9/11 attacks on his beloved city. He knew it might cost him weeks, even months, away from his wife and kids on Long Island while he tracked leads from Alaska to Cuba. Yesterday, Corey's tireless work paid off. The 40-year-old Bayside, Queens, native was hailed by Police Commissioner Ray Kelly for his key role in cracking the case against fanatical Muslim cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri. Corey, known as an expert interviewer, was able to extract crucial...

An Alaska woman knows firsthand some of the key events in the indictments yesterday of Abu Hamza al-Masri. Mary Quin, 50, was one of 16 tourists taken hostage in Yemen by terrorists federal agents say were aided by the London cleric. Quin, an Anchorage businesswoman, was riding in a caravan in the Yemeni desert, heading to Aden, when the group was ambushed by gunmen on Dec. 28, 1998. They forced one of the five four-wheel-drive vehicles off the road, and men with AK-47s jumped out of the brush. For the next day, she and the other hostages were moved several...

AHMEDABAD: The main conspirator of the terrorist attack on Akshardham temple in Gandhinagar, Abu Hamza, was arrested in a pre-dawn raid by the Scotland Yard in London on Thursday. The radical Muslim cleric — Abu Hamza al-Mazri — was nabbed on charges of aiding terrorists by plotting to set up an al-Qaeda training camp in the US and also for supporting a hostage-situation that had taken place in Yemen in 1998. Four persons were killed in the hostage drama. Abu Hamza was arrested by the London police at Washington's request and the US is seeking his extradition. Hamza is named...

Phone tap ban prevented Hamza trial in Britain By Philip Johnston, Home Affairs Editor (Filed: 29/05/2004) Home Office dithering over a decision on whether to permit the use of phone tap evidence in court emerged yesterday as a key reason why Abu Hamza could not be tried in Britain. Although the Government has said for years that it was "reviewing" the prohibition on intercept evidence and was "minded" to lift the ban, it has yet to produce firm proposals. Hamza is in Belmarsh jail David Blunkett, the Home Secretary, conceded yesterday that evidence in American hands allegedly linking the extremist...

Sheik down! He's spewed his bile for years; now a city cop has helped nail Sheik Al-Masri By JONATHAN LEMIRE and ROBERT GEARTY DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS Sheik Abu Hamza With the help of a street-smart city detective, federal officials finally made a case yesterday against a radical Islamic preacher who has urged jihad against the U.S. for years. Sheik Abu Hamza al-Masri, 47, was arrested in a predawn raid in London yesterday. Hours later, Attorney General John Ashcroft, New York FBI boss Pasquale D'Amuro and Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly announced an 11-count indictment in Manhattan Federal Court. "He is...