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Captain Hook gets 9 more months in the UK
ABU HAMZA, the radical Muslim cleric who has been linked to five Islamic terrorist groups, has secured the right to stay in Britain for another nine months - in spite of the governmentâs attempts to deport him. The Special Immigration Appeals Commission yesterday postponed the hearing until 10 January, 2005, after several problems, including Mr Hamzaâs refusal to appear in court during the Muslim month of fasting in Ramadan.
The delay came as several new details emerged about Mr Hamzaâs links to terrorist organisations in Britain and beyond, leading Muslim groups and MPs to unite in denouncing the delay in his hearing. Ian Burnett, QC, representing the Home Office, yesterday told a bomb-proof hearing room in London that the government can prove Mr Hamza offered "support and advice" to al-Qaeda before the terrorist attacks in the United States on 11 September 2001. There is also evidence linking the cleric to terrorist cells including the GIA in Algeria, the IAA in Yemen - where he is wanted on terrorist charges - and a Kashmiri terrorist group known as the HUA. But Mr Hamza was granted the nine-month extension after he refused to submit evidence in his defence and changed his solicitor. There has also been debate about whether he was entitled to up to £250,000 in legal aid.
| I think the entire West is crazy... |
Mr Hamza, who has been banned from preaching in the Finsbury Mosque, London, by the Charities Commission, was not in court because he has filed no relevant papers in the last 12 months. Mr Burnett expressed the disappointment of the government that the proceedings against Mr Hamza, which began in April last year, look set to go on for two years, and that officials could not act sooner.
| Justice delayed is justice denied... |
He added that the cleric has used the Finsbury Mosque as a "centre of extremism and a safe haven for Islamic terrorists, enabling them to develop the support and contacts necessary to further violent aims." The judge, Mr Justice Ouseley, also expressed dismay that Mr Hamza was entitled to such a long delay in his hearing. "For my part, I find it difficult to see why the timetable was not adhered to," he said. Fury over the nine-month delay was yesterday echoed by the Islamic Society of Britain (ISB), which said Mr Hamzaâs presence in the country is harming the reputation of Britainâs Muslims throughout the country. "He should be removed just as other members of extremist factions," said Naeem Raza, a director of the ISB. "He deserves to be thrown out. It is disgusting that he is still here."
| Even the turbans don't like him. C'mon, guys! What would Good Queen Bess do? |
Naseem Mohammed, the chairman of the Birmingham Central Mosque, said: "Mr Hamza needs to be removed and 99.9 per cent of Muslims do not agree with what he says. He is simply a madman."
| But still they keep him around... |
SECRET tapes containing the rantings of Abu Hamza were revealed in the Daily Mail yesterday. They outline his twisted views on suicide bombings, the Westâs war on terror and his thoughts on Tony Blair, the Prime Minister, and George Bush, the US president. On suicide bombings, he tells supporters: "You donât have to travel thousands and thousands of miles to become a shaheed [martyr] - you can be a shaheed right on your own doorstep. May Allah open our eyes for whatâs good for us - so we donât waste our efforts and our Muslim blood far away."
| If Sir Walter Raleigh could end up with a very short haircut, why can't Captain Hook? |
And on the UK terror crackdown, he says: "These laws are now coming one after the other. And the main goal is to destruct Islam and Muslims from Islam because Islam now is what makes their life difficult." The tapes also repeat his views on 11 September: "Wherever you are, death will catch up with you - even if you are in high elevated towers. Where is their âSupermanâ? They only know how to fly through windows. Who is to blame? The American government and their pressure cooker policy which exploded in their faces." He later adds: "These scenes are going to repeat." On Osama Bin Laden, he says: "Sheikh Bin Laden is not a normal person. He is an example for all mujahideen with his past experience, goals and achievements." And he mocks Mr Blair and Mr Bush, saying on the tapes: "The people who are spreading terror all over the planet, the people who have sanctioned children, they are killing them for tens of years; the people who have killed millions of children."
Posted by: Dan Darling 2004-04-27 |
