Abu Hamza wins appeal against extradition to US
Radical cleric Abu Hamza today won a reprieve from European Court judges because a long jail term may breach his human rights.
Hook-handed Hamza is being held in top security Belmarsh prison after being convicted of inciting murder and racial hatred. The US is seeking his extradition on terrorism charges.
But today Strasbourg judges at the European Court of Human Rights halted the extradition of both Hamza and British detainee Babar Ahmad.
The court said the possible length of the US jail terms they faced — life without parole in a "supermax" prison — raised concerns about breaches of the European human rights code on torture and inhuman or degrading treatment.
They gave the Government until 2 September to submit observations. Hamza, 51, was jailed on 11 charges at the Old Bailey in February 2006. Extradition of the Egyptian-born preacher was approved by then-Home Secretary Jacqui Smith in February 2008.
He faces charges in the US of funding terrorism, organising a terrorist training camp in Oregon and conspiring to take westerners hostage in Yemen. His lawyers say the evidence was gathered through torture and fear he would suffer the same. Hamza was imam of the Finsbury Park mosque until he was dismissed in 2003.
Computer expert Ahmad, 36, has been held in jail without trial since August 2004 on a US extradition warrant. He is accused of running US-registered websites from his home, conspiracy to support the Taliban and Chechen Mujahideen and conspiracy to kill in a foreign country.
Ahmad was arrested at his Tooting home in December 2003 on suspicions that he was connected to al Qaeda. By the time he reached the police station he had 73 injuries and was released without charge six days later. British nationals Haroon Rashid Aswat and Seyla Talha Ahsan have also been granted more time before US extradition.
