American officials argue that Abu Hamza, the one-eyed, hook-handed jihadist cleric from Britain, was involved “in a global conspiracy to wage terrorist attacks on the U.S. and other Western countries.” Hugo Keith’s remark is noteworthy: “He advocated the defense of Islam through unlawful, violent and armed aggression.” Quite apt.
“U.S. argues for extradition of radical Islamic cleric,” by Tariq Panja for The Associated Press:
LONDON (AP) “” The United States argued Thursday for the extradition of a radical Islamic cleric imprisoned in Britain, accusing him of involvement in a global conspiracy to wage terrorist attacks on the U.S. and other Western countries.
Abu Hamza al-Masri has been charged in the United States with trying to establish a terrorist training camp in Oregon, conspiring to take hostages in Yemen and facilitating terrorist training in Afghanistan.
He is serving a seven-year sentence in Britain for fomenting racial hatred and urging his followers to kill non-Muslims.
“He advocated the defense of Islam through unlawful, violent and armed aggression,” Hugo Keith, a lawyer representing the U.S. government, said during a hearing in a London court….
Al-Masri’s lawyer, Alun Jones, said the extradition application should be rejected because he believed some of the evidence against the cleric was extracted by torturing a defense witness….
But of course, claiming torture is straight out of the Al-Qaeda playbook.
Keith said the planned training camp in Oregon would have been used to prepare recruits to “kill enemies of Islam” in Afghanistan, training them in weapons use, hand-to-hand combat and martial arts.
“The general allegation is that Mr. Hamza is a member of a global conspiracy to wage jihad against the U.S. and other Western countries,” Keith said. “Jihad carried out in numerous parts of the world “” the U.K., Afghanistan, Yemen and U.S.”