The British authorities faced questions on Wednesday about why it took so long to act against radical Muslim cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri who was jailed for inciting racial hatred and soliciting murder.
During sentencing on Tuesday in London, Judge Anthony Hughes said 47-year-old Abu Hamza’s sermons had helped generate a climate in which some now regarded it as a ”moral duty” to kill.
The potential damage of his words — in which he commended suicide bombing and urged video audiences to murder non-Muslims and Jews — was ”incalculable”, Hughes said.
The Egyptian-born, hook-handed, one-eyed imam of Finsbury Park Mosque, north London showed no emotion as the sentence was handed down in Central Criminal Court. His defence team vowed to appeal the ”politically-motivated” case.
The preacher was convicted on six of nine soliciting-to-murder charges and two of four charges of ”using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour with the intention of stirring up racial hatred.”
He was also found guilty of possessing the 11-volume Encyclopaedia of Afghani Jihad containing information ”likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism”.
The book included a dedication to al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden as well as chapters detailing how to make explosives, and advocated hitting high-profile international targets like the Statue of Liberty in New York harbour.
Prosecutors alleged that Hamza was a ”recruiting sergeant” for terrorism and murder through his pronouncements against Jews, non-Muslims and what he called ”apostates” — lapsed followers of Islam or Arab leaders ”too close” to Western governments.
The calls were made during a number of video- and audio-taped lectures and sermons advocating his own version of ”jihad” — literally ”struggle” in Arabic — to establish a worldwide Islamic caliphate under Sharia law.
Meanwhile, the United States is pushing for his extradition over claims that Abu Hamza supported an alleged terrorist camp in Oregon. The Daily Mail said extradition proceedings are expected at the end of his prison term, which could be just two and a half years with remission for good behavior and counting the year he has already spent in custody.
Amid complaints from politicians and media critics about why it took so long to charge him, The Times newspaper reported it learned that Abu Hamza had preached to three of the four presumed London bombers: Mohammed Sidique Khan (30) Shehzad Tanweer (22) and Germaine Lindsay (19).
The three, plus Hasib Hussain (18) allegedly blew up three London underground trains and one double-decker bus on July 7 last year, killing 52 commuters and themselves.
The Times added that the link between Abu Hamza and the three raises a possible new explanation for the timing of the attacks.
On the morning of July 7 Abu Hamza was in a London court about to stand trial, but his case was postponed for six months before resuming in January this year.
However, a spokesperson for the Metropolitan Police said the force had ”no evidence” to support the claims, and asked anyone with any ”relevant information” about any alleged connections to contact police.
Meanwhile, Christophe Chaboud, head of France’s national anti-terrorism co-ordination unit (UCLAT), told The Guardian that France gave Britain evidence implicating Abu Hamza in promoting terrorism but London failed to act.
He told the British daily that Abu Hamza had sent dozens of people from Finsbury Park mosque to terror training camps in Afghanistan.
The Daily Mail newspaper quoted Patrick Mercer, the security spokesperson for the opposition Conservatives, as saying the London bomb victims had paid the price for Abu Hamza being allowed to radicalise young Muslims.
The Daily Telegraph said: ”The successful prosecution of Abu Hamza for incitement to murder brings only partial satisfaction. The cleric uttered his incitements to kill for years before being charged.” – AFP
