AFP: Radical cleric faked fatherhood claim to stay in Britain: report

LONDON (AFP) - Abu Hamza al-Masri, the radical Egyptian Muslim cleric who was jailed here for seven years in February, falsely claimed to have fathered a child after moving to Britain, a newspaper said.

Abu Hamza, who was sentenced for inciting racial hatred and soliciting murder, claimed on a birth certificate in October 1980 that he was the father of a daughter born to his first wife, Valerie Traverso, The Times said.

Four days after her birth, Hamza told his lawyers to write to Britain's Home Office to apply for permission to stay in the country, saying that he had married an Englishwoman and had become a father, the newspaper said.

Hamza married Traverso 10 months after arriving in Britain. She converted to Islam, but their marriage ended in divorce in August 1984.

It was later claimed that the marriage had been bigamous as she allegedly did not divorce the man she had been married to until more than a year after their wedding.

Details of the bogus entry on her daughter's birth certificate appear in a new book, "The Suicide Factory," which is being serialized in the Times.

Abu Hamza, who had been arrested for overstaying in 1980 and given a conditional discharge, allegedly hoped his marriage and his claim to be a father, would bolster his application to be allowed to live legally in Britain.

The Times said the disclosure is likely to renew calls for a probe into why the British authorities failed to remove him after he was caught 25 years ago flouting immigration rules.

While Abu Hamza serves his sentence in Britain, the US authorities are seeking to extradite him on terrorism charges.

APonCTV Oct. 15, 2004

Radical cleric al-Masri facing charges in U.K.

LONDON

British authorities have decided to charge a radical Muslim cleric with terrorist offenses, pre-empting a bid from the United States to try him on similar charges, a British news agency reported Friday.

Press Association said British charges were likely to be filed next week against Abu Hamza al-Masri, who faces 11 charges in the United States.

The Crown Prosecution Service declined to comment on the report, saying only, "We can confirm that we have now advised the police of our decision in the case of Abu Hamza, and they will be taking appropriate action."

Metropolitan Police, who would be responsible for filing any charges, said only that they were considering the advice from the Crown Prosecution Service.

A full five-day extradition hearing on the U.S. warrant was scheduled to begin Oct. 19, but that almost certainly would be adjourned if British charges are filed.

Al-Masri, 46, is former head preacher at London's Finsbury Park mosque, which has been linked to terrorist suspects including alleged Sept. 11 plotter Zacarias Moussaoui and "shoe bomber" Richard Reid.

He was arrested in May after U.S. authorities laid 11 charges against al-Masri relating to terrorism, including allegedly trying to establish a terrorist training camp in Oregon, involvement in hostage-taking in Yemen and funding terrorism training in Afghanistan.

Attorney General John Ashcroft had taken the lead in announcing the charges against al-Masri, telling a news conference: "Those who support our terrorist enemies anywhere in the world must know that we will not rest until the threat they pose is eradicated,"

The Egyptian-born cleric — who has one eye and hooks for hands, which he says were lost fighting Soviet troops in Afghanistan in the 1980s — participated in the half-hour hearing from the high-security Belmarsh Prison in south London, where he has been held since his arrest on May, 27.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.