Posted by NEWS on 14/10/2004, 18:06:35 Radical Muslim cleric Abu Hamza is likely to find out today whether he is to be charged under the Terrorism Act. Senior Crown Prosecution Service lawyers are expected to inform Hamza, who is already facing separate extradition proceedings to the United States, if he is to face a prosecution in the British courts for allegedly providing support to terrorists. The decision, on which the Attorney General Lord Goldsmith has been consulted, is seen as highly politically sensitive. US President George W Bush has named Hamza as a global terrorist and officials there have accused him of playing a key role in Osama bin Ladens al Qaida terror network. Any British proceedings would take precedence over the American ones and a decision to charge Hamza would therefore deprive the US of an opportunity for a high profile terrorist trial. The charges the US has levied are also understood to be more serious than any which Hamza would face in Britain. A source close to the case said the decision on whether or not to charge Hamza could be deeply political. The former imam of Finsbury Park Mosque was arrested in May this year after the US made an extradition request for him to face 11 terrorism charges there. But three months later Hamza, who was already in Belmarsh high security jail awaiting the extradition proceedings, was arrested again by the Metropolitan Polices Anti-Terrorist Branch who were investigating separate allegations that he provided support to al Qaida-inspired terrorists either through finance, recruiting or logistics. Hamza was later de-arrested but the investigation was not dropped and the police advice file, based on inquiries over several months and Hamzas interviews with detectives, was passed to Crown Prosecution Service lawyers who then requested advice from Lord Goldsmith. In a hearing at Bow Street magistrates court on Wednesday, which was part of the extradition proceedings, US Government Treasury Counsel Hugo Keith said the British decision on charging Hamza under the Terrorism Act was expected today. The American charges relate to incidents of hostage-taking in Yemen in 1998, in which three Britons died, allegedly trying to set up a terror training camp in Oregon and an allegation that Hamza sent Feroz Abbasi to Afghanistan to fight for the Taliban. Abbasi, from Croydon, is currently being held at the US naval base detention centre in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Hamza Should Learn Terror Charge Decision Today
By Nick Allen, Crime Correspondent, PA News
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