The jailed radical Muslim cleric Abu Hamza could face terror charges in the US after a judge today rejected his attempt to overturn his UK convictions. Hamza, 48, was jailed for seven years in February last year for soliciting murder and inciting racial hatred. Abu Hamza was the head preacher at London's Finsbury Park mosque
In the US he faces charges including trying to establish a terrorist training camp in Oregon, conspiring to take hostages in Yemen and facilitating terrorist training in Afghanistan. Washington is seeking Hamza's "temporary surrender" under the 2003 Extradition Act.
London's City of Westminster Magistrates Court today set a date for a four-day extradition hearing after being told that the House of Lords had refused Hamza leave to appeal against his convictions in the UK. Hamza, who appeared via video link from Belmarsh Prison, spoke only to confirm that he understood what was happening.
Once tried in the US he would then be returned to Britain to complete his jail term before being extradited again to serve any sentence handed down in the US. District Judge Timothy Workman remanded Hamza in custody until the start of the extradition hearing on May 16. Earlier this month the radical preacher was ordered to repay more than £1 million in legal aid which he was granted during his Old Bailey trial.
Iraqi embassy in huge passport blunder
Wed. 31 Jan 2007
The Iraqi embassy in Stockholm has admitted issuing 26,000 passports based on false documentation to asylum seekers in Sweden and Norway. Migration minister Tobias Billström is set to meet his Norwegian counterpart in Oslo on Wednesday to discuss the matter.
Details surrounding the fraudulent passport applications first emerged in Norwegian press after police cracked a forgery ring in Oslo. The Iraqi ambassador to Sweden informed Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten that the embassy had issued passports based on false documentation simply because it did not have the resources to check the authenticity of the paperwork.
"We have known for a long time that the Iraqi embassy has been issuing passports on false premises, but what can we do about it? This is a question for the foreign ministry. They know about this. We have presented the information in various reports," Bengt Hellström from the Swedish Migration Board told Metro.
He added that the Migration Board has received numerous tip-offs over the last two years suggesting that people from Syria, Iran, Turkey and Lebanon have been able to get passports from the Iraqi embassy. Gustaf Lind, secretary of state at the justice department, says that his department has known about the problem for a month.
"What we have done is to get civil servants at the justice department and the Migration Board to check out the information. We haven't really formed a judgment yet but the foreign ministry has called the Iraqi ambassador in to discuss the matter on Wednesday," said Lind.
http://www.iranfocus.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=10030:
Jerusalem - A U.S. court decision allowing victims of Palestinian suicide bombings to sue a major Mideast bank is a "great step" forward in the war against terrorism, Israeli victims said Wednesday.
U.S. District Court Judge Nina Gershon ruled this week that terror victims can sue the Arab Bank for its role in transferring Saudi funds to the families of Palestinian suicide bombers. According to their attorneys, several thousand plaintiffs who have joined the case include 30 U.S. citizens, as well as citizens of Israel, Russia, France and eight other countries.
Excerpted
http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewForeignBureaus.asp?Page=/ForeignBureaus/archive/200701/FOR20070131e.html
Senior Jihad Terrorist Nabbed in Shechem (Israel)
Feb 01, '07
The IDF arrested a senior Islamic Jihad fugitive Wednesday night in Samaria. Nasser Jubara of Nablus had been involved in terror activity against the IDF and planning of suicide bombings in Israel.
According to the IDF spokesman, Jubara had served 4 years in jail after being convicted of terror activity in the Shechem area. Immediately upon his release in 2006 he returned to terror activities and renewed his connection to the Islamic Jihad Command in Syria.
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/news.php3?id=120699
A "blunder?"
Oh.
I can't post what I'm thinking.
I'd be banned.