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Abu Hamza arrives in US after extradition

by artappraiser 10/6/2012 - 12:20 pm

By Cass Jones and Owen Bowcott, guardian.co.uk, 6 October 2012

The Islamist cleric Abu Hamza and four other terrorism suspects have arrived in the US after being extradited from Britain, US officials have confirmed.

The US attorney's office in New York said Hamza, Khaled al-Fawwaz and Adel Abdul Bary were in New York City and were expected to appear in court later on Saturday. The US attorney's office in Connecticut said Babar Ahmad and Syed Talha Ahsan are scheduled to appear in US district court in New Haven, in connection with the alleged running of a pro-jihad website. [....]

Abu Hamza faces 11 charges in the US relating to hostage taking, conspiracy to establish a militant training camp and calling for holy war in Afghanistan.

His lawyers argued he was not fit to be deported on health grounds but UK judges rejected his appeal, paving the way for his immediate removal from the UK. The prime minister, David Cameron, has expressed his delight that Hamza had finally been deported from Britain [....]

Read the full article at http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/oct/06/abu-hamza-us-court-extradition

For those who don't remember Abu Hamza by name, here's the media's favorite "mug shot":

from AP's coverage of the extradition by John Christofferson and Larry Neumeister, October 6. That photo is owned by the AP.

by artappraiser 10/6/2012 - 12:27 pm

Something I did not remember: these guys were indicted in the 1998 indictment, USA v. Usama bin Laden et al.;  from the AP article:

Al-Masri, a one-time nightclub bouncer, will be housed in Manhattan along with Khaled al-Fawwaz, 50, a citizen of Saudi Arabia, and Adel Abdul Bary, 52, an Egyptian citizen, who will face trial on charges that they participated in the bombings of two U.S. embassies in Africa in 1998. The attacks killed 224 people, including 12 Americans. They were indicted in a case that also charged Osama bin Laden.

 

by artappraiser 10/6/2012 - 1:03 pm (re: artappraiser)

It is interesting to glance at that indictment again (I ended up reading many of the trial transcripts after 9/11) in that Hezbollah is mentioned on the front page I link to. This grand jury trial is where some of the confusion about Iranians (are they fer or agin al Qaeda?) begins, because there was considerable testimony about Osama bin Laden reaching out to Hezbollah and similar Shi'ite groups while he was in Sudan, when he was trying to form al Qaeda. That testimony was quite believable and I still don't doubt that Osama tried to do that. He was, after all, dreaming of the glory of getting the entire ummah to rise up. And there was no reason for Hezbollah types to refuse a meet and greet with a rich eccentric anti-American Saudi or his agents. Turned out that Sunni Mullah Omar was the one most enticed by the sales pitch.....

by artappraiser 10/6/2012 - 1:43 pm (re: artappraiser)

Sounds too pat now as then - just Muslims being Muslims? Persians & Saudis don't mix well; Hezbollah had a dainty role in the mix, and I think post-colonial French Lebanon is a bit different from the post-colonial British territories (including the fact of the Lebanese civil war and the 1982 Israeli invasion that would make them caireful about their assumptions. Al Qaeda would be a usurper of the crafted Hezbollah role, one they'd turned into as dangerous as a Civil Servant's job)

by PeraclesPlease 10/6/2012 - 1:49 pm (re: artappraiser)

I suspect the Republican base will claim some conspiracy between the White House and Britain to give Obama a chance to look strong against terrorists while at the same time punishing Romney for his remarks about their Summer Olympics.

by Another Trope 10/6/2012 - 12:35 pm

Some guys, you know... all you really need do is look em in the eye... and you know, deep down... you can trust em.

Also, the hook. When combined with the screaming and frothing, I find it darned convincing. 

by Qnonymous (not verified) 10/7/2012 - 12:04 am

Thought you said, "all you really need do is hook em in the eye" - think I need my glasses checked.

by PeraclesPlease 10/7/2012 - 2:05 pm (re: Qnonymous)
Why no howls from the politicianiarirat condemning civil, not gitmo trials? No doubt we are constrained by due process meddling in the extradition proceeding.
by jollyroger 10/7/2012 - 6:14 pm

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