We missed you but we understand your plate is heaped full.
Abu Hamza Al Masri Update:
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Cleric may face terror charges
Published: 18 September 2004
LONDON: A radical Muslim cleric who is wanted by the United States may be charged soon with offences under Britain's anti-terrorism law, a lawyer for the US government said yesterday.
The lawyer, Hugo Keith, said during a 20-minute extradition hearing in a London court that "a decision (on whether to charge Abu Hamza Al Masri) is likely to be made around about the end of the first week in October."
Lawyers said the Metropolitan Police have passed a file concerning Hamza to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), which will decide whether to charge him under the Terrorism Act 2000.
But Keith, speaking at Bow Street Magistrate's Court, said he was not party to the British decision-making process and did not know whether Hamza, an Egyptian-born British citizen, would be charged.
Hamza, 47, was arrested last month over allegations that he provided support for Al Qaeda-inspired terrorists either through finance, recruiting or logistics.
He was later de-arrested but the investigation was not dropped and the police advice file, based on inquiries over several months and Hamza's interviews with detectives, was passed to CPS lawyers.
Hamza is already facing extradition to face 11 counts of terrorism-related crimes in the US, notably over a hostage-taking in Yemen in 1998 in which three Britons were killed, and an alleged Al Qaeda training camp operating in Oregon in 1999-2000.
If Hamza were charged in Britain, those proceedings would, under Section 88 of the Extradition Act, take precedence over the proposed extradition to the US.
During the hearing before District Judge Timothy Workman, Hamza appeared on a video link from Belmarsh jail where he has been held since May pending the outcome of the extradition proceedings.
Hamza, dressed in a pale blue prison shirt, appeared to be struggling to stay awake as his one good eye appeared to be shut for much of the hearing. Keith said that if Hamza was not charged under British law, an extradition hearing over five days would start on October 19.
© Gulf Daily News
http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/Story.asp?Article=91996&Sn=WORL&IssueID=27182
Thanks. :) I usually find a fair amount of time to do what I want to during school, the constant barrage of hurricanes managed to eat up all my free time tho... I can't seem to get enough info on those storms, they are truly amazing. Ivan managed to become the 5th strongest ever recorded in the Atlantic while he travelled through the Caribbean.