Cleric faces terror charges

Abu Hamza was today charged by US authorities with hostage-taking and setting up a terrorist training camp in America.

The hook-handed preacher from Finsbury Park was initially warned he faces the death penalty or life imprisonment if found guilty. However, the Home Office has said there is no risk of his execution.

Hamza was arrested by police in a pre-dawn raid in London today following a request by the US authorities. He was taken to Belmarsh Prison's special courtroom this afternoon where he was remanded in custody.

At the same time, in the US attorney general John Ashcroft said he will seek Hamza's immediate extradition. An indictment filed at Manhattan Federal Court accuses the radical Muslim cleric of conspiracy to take hostages in Yemen in 1998 which resulted in the death of three British tourists and an Australian.

Mr Ashcroft said telephone records linked Hamza with the hostage takers. The indictment also accuses Hamza of conspiring with terrorist organisations, "specifically al Qaeda".

Mr Ashcroft said Hamza faced charges dating from late 1999 and early 2000 of setting up a training camp in Oregon aimed at starting a "violent Jihad" in the United States.

He is also charged with attempting to set up a terror training camp in Afghanistan and supporting the Taliban.

The maximum sentence for such offences was the "death penalty or life imprisonment," said the attorney general.

However, a Home Office spokeswoman said: "It is a key principle of UK extradition law that the Secretary of State must not order extradition in a case where an offence may be punishable by death, unless he receives adequate written assurances that such a sentence would not be imposed or, if imposed, would not be carried out."

The investigation which led to to the arrest was headed by the FBI, assisted by the New Yorkbased Joint Terrorism Taskforce and the New York City police department.

Mr Ashcroft said one of the charges related to a trip by an alleged co-conspirator from London to New York to raise money for the Finsbury Park mosque.

The funds were deposited into a special mosque account that was later allegedly used to pay for one of Hamza's associates to visit Afghanistan. Once there, Mr Ashcroft said, he was instructed by Hamza to seek out and visit a training camp.

A charge of procuring goods and services for the Taliban relates to a period early in 2001 when Hamza posted a message on the Supporters of Shariah website, urging his followers to make donations to projects in Afghanistan.

American counter-terrorism officers have spent recent months shuttling back and forth between London and Washington to discuss the moves.

A federal grand jury has been meeting in secret in New York to hear evidence against Hamza. Officers from Scotland Yard's extradition squad went to Hamza's home at 3am, backed by armed officers and anti-terrorist branch detectives.

Today forensic officers were carrying out a painstaking search of Hamza's council house in Shepherd's Bush. Police wearing overalls could be seen removing videos, a computer, an attaché case and other documents. Scotland Yard did not name the cleric but said a 47-year-old British citizen had been arrested following a US request for his extradition.

Hamza is likely to fight extradition and is also likely to seek legal aid for his defence.

The US case against him is thought to be based on information from suspects in custody

there. It may include some from Feroz Abbasi, one of the Britons still held in Guantanamo Bay, or from James Ujaama - a former friend of Hamza's jailed for two years in Seattle this year after pleading guilty to helping the Taliban.

Scotland Yard recently launched an investigation into Hamza over the content of audio tapes distributed to followers which featured calls for suicide attacks "on your own doorstep".

Hamza, who came to Britain in 1981, has been fighting an attempt by the Home Secretary to remove his British citizenship. The Finsbury Park mosque where he used to preach was closed down in January last year after it became clear that it had been used by al Qaeda fanatics, including shoebomber Richard Reid.