British Judge Freezes Abu Hamza Extradition
A British judge on Wednesday halted the extradition of Abu Hamza to the United States on terror charges after the radical Islamist preacher lodged a last-ditch legal appeal.
The dramatic move came after the European Court of Human Rights on Monday effectively gave Britain the green light to deport the Egyptian born-cleric and four other suspects.
Abu Hamza and a second terror suspect, Khaled Al-Fawwaz, both lodged legal challenges with the High Court in London, dragging out a long legal battle with a government that is keen to see them gone.
"A High Court judge has considered the applications on the papers and adjourned the cases to a hearing in open court," said a spokeswoman for Britain's Judiciary Office.
"The judge has issued interim injunctions preventing their removal prior to those hearings. The judge has directed the hearings be fixed urgently," the spokeswoman added.
The grounds for the appeal by Abu Hamza and al-Fawwaz were not immediately clear and their lawyers did not return calls from AFP seeking comment.
Britain's Home Office, or interior ministry, said it would continue to try to hand over the men as quickly as it could.
"The European Court of Human Rights ruled there was no bar to the extradition of these men. We will continue working to ensure they are handed over to the U.S. authorities as soon as possible," a spokesman said.
A British government source told AFP on condition of anonymity that the appeals by the two terror suspects were a "delaying tactic".
Abu Hamza, the former imam of the Finsbury Park mosque in north London, is wanted in the United States on charges including setting up an Al-Qaida-style training camp for militants in the northwestern U.S. state of Oregon.
The cleric, who has one eye and a hook for one hand, is also accused of sending money and recruits to Afghanistan's Taliban and Al-Qaida, and of helping kidnappers in Yemen who abducted a party of Western tourists in 1998.
Now in his mid-50s, he was jailed in Britain for seven years in 2006 for inciting followers to murder non-believers in speeches on the streets of London.
Fawwaz was indicted with late Al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden and 20 others for alleged involvement in, or support for, the bombing of U.S. embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam in 1998.
The European Court of Human Rights announced on Monday that it had upheld its own earlier ruling, made on April 10, that approved Britain's extradition of Abu Hamza, Fawwaz, Syed Tahla Ahsan, Adel Abdul Bary and Babar Ahmad.
The court dismissed their claims that they would face degrading treatment because they would be sent to the notorious ADX supermax prison in Florence, Colorado, and could face multiple life sentences.
It was the five suspects' final avenue of appeal in Europe and the ruling was supposed to clear the way for Britain to put them on a plane.
Britain's tabloid press has long demonized Abu Hamza, whose real name is Kamel Mustafa, for his Islamist views and the government has been under pressure for years to deport him.
Britain's Queen Elizabeth II found herself caught up in the case on Tuesday when a BBC correspondent revealed she had raised concerns with a previous government about Abu Hamza.
The state-funded broadcaster later apologized for having breached the confidence of the queen, who as a constitutional monarch is not supposed to express political views.
Source: Agence France Presse
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