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| Europe |
| Hate preacher stays defiant |
| 2003-01-21 |
| After the police used battering rams lit by helicopters to break into the mosque from which he preaches in north London, Abu Hamza briefly went underground. But nothing can keep this Islamic zealot down for long. Soon he was using his favourite forum, the BBC, to state his case for radical Islam. Hours later, he was in the witness box at the Old Bailey defending a fellow cleric charged with soliciting to murder. Later still, he woke up to see himself all over the front pages, reviled amid accusations of terrorism. Showing the calipers he uses, he has no hands, The Sun made clear the position of many Britons with a huge headline that said: "Sling your hook". And it is true that many Britons, including Muslims, simply cannot understand how the man who calls himself Sheik Abu Hamza El-Masir is allowed to live in a society he constantly threatens and whose links to international terrorism seem irrefutable. Me either For example, in 1999 Abu Hamza called on Islam for "inventions to fight arrogant Western powers" that might include "air-bound mines or flying bombs". By then he already was a supporter of - and had publicly praised - Osama bin Laden. The reason he may live in Britain is because Britain will not deport to their homelands people who face execution there. His real name is Mustapha Kamel, born in Egypt, now 44. Not surprisingly he changed his name to Abu Hamza El-Masir. The "sheik" is a phony honorific. "Abu" often precedes a fighting pseudonym in the Arab world. In 1994 Mustapha was sentenced to death in absentia for plotting to kill the then Egyptian prime minister, Atef Sidki. He had been based in Britain since 1980 and, despite pleas from Egypt, would not be deported to be executed. His file shows he was a student in engineering, a nightclub bouncer in the Soho sex industry, and the husband, briefly, of an English woman, Valerie. He has two sons, one of whom faced terrorism charges in Yemen, where Hamza is also wanted. He claims to have lost both hands and an eye to a landmine in Afghanistan during the 1980s war against the Soviet Union. I've heard that this may have been a "work accident" sometime later. He has a militant and devoted following, and he preaches a steady stream of hatred. He also called a day of thanks to mark the anniversary of September 11. I think his time is about up. |
| Posted by:Steve |