'My pity for Hamza'

The husband of a hostage murdered by terrorists allegedly linked to Abu Hamza today spoke of his pity for the fundamentalist cleric.

Laurence Whitehouse's wife Margaret was shot dead as she tried to revive another hostage during a botched rescue attempt to end a kidnapping in Yemen in 1998.

Hamza is being extradited to America where he faces life over his alleged part in the plot to capture tourists.

Today Mr Whitehouse told how he felt only "pity" for fundamentalists like Hamza, who allegedly took a satellite phone call from the gang before they killed four hostages including his wife, a 52-year-old primary school teacher.

"When men like Hamza say they are helping their cause by doing such acts of evil, I would say to them, 'How can you say that? What is so heroic about doing that to a woman who taught at school and who never harmed anyone?'," he said.

"Terrorism, hostage-taking are not the way to stop the oppression that may be happening in countries like Iraq, Afghanistan and Israel. It is immoral and downright evil to say you can attack foreigners who are visiting your lands as guests."

Hamza is being held in high-security Belmarsh Prison after a police raid on his west London home yesterday. One of the 11 terror-related charges links him to the Yemen kidnapping. Others relate to hostage taking and supporting al Qaeda.

The Yemen hostages who were murdered - two other Britons and an Australian - were among 16 being used as human shields by the terrorists.

Mr Whitehouse, 59, said he doubted he would want to be there when Hamza appears in court in America. "I am not sure whether I could face him - how can you talk to fanatics, to terrorists, who do not value human life? They believe they are justified in doing what they do and nothing you can say will ever change their minds about that."

The terrorist leader whose men killed Mrs Whitehouse never felt a moment's regret. Even as he faced the death penalty, Abu Hassan said: "I am sorry for nothing." He would have killed her husband, too: "If my pistol had not jammed he would be dead as well."

Hassan was executed in 1999 by the Yemeni authorities.

Mr Whitehouse had a chance to demand the death penalty for Hassan but refused. Now he says Abu Hamza should not face the death penalty either.

His wife of 28 years, was killed during a botched rescue attempt by Yemeni troops as she tried to help Australian Andrew Thirsk, who had been shot.

Soon afterwards Mr Whitehouse said: "Margaret tried to help Andrew as he lay on the floor. She gave him a hankie. Then he was hit again. Margaret suddenly shouted, 'Bless me'. It's a pet phrase she usually uses when she misses a shot at tennis. Her leg had been hit. Margaret was still trying to save Andrew, despite the pain she was feeling. Then a bullet hit her in the head. She was dead."

Today, in a moving interview with the Evening Standard, Mr Whitehouse said: "My wife died a hero, that is how I have come to terms with the horrible way she left this world. She died trying to protect someone else, trying to revive his life - what man would not be proud to say that?"

He said he believed men like Hamza were "figures of fun" who were rejected by everyone. He said: "Why is he so filled with hate of the West, and everything that we stand for? Why does he feel so justified in hating the Western society that he lives in and offers him refuge?

"He has made himself such a figure of fun and such a figure of hate that everyone - including members of his own faith - reject him. For that, I pity him, I feel sorry for him - it must be so dark to be him.

"All the great faiths preach a message of peace and understanding. Instead men like Hamza say it is fine to take hostages and crash planes into high-rise buildings."

Mr Whitehouse also said he wished the hook-handed Hamza had been extradited to Yemen to be tried "in front of his own Islamic people." He said: "I have always believed that Abu Hamza should face trial in the Yemen, in front of his own Islamic people, because he has let down his own faith, he has let down the causes that are so precious to the Islamic world that he claims to be speaking for.

"Terrorism, hostage-taking are not the way to stop the oppression that may be happening in countries like Iraq, Afghanistan and Israel.

"But the problem is that is if he is brought to trial in the US, he will be seen as a martyr by some young Islamic men. I am afraid that under the current circumstances that he will be seen by some as a victim of US aggression. And that can only be bad for the future, because there will be some who take up arms in the way he advocates."

Hamza is also accused of providing support and resources for terrorists, particularly al Qaeda, and attempting to set up a terror training camp in Bly, Oregon.

The extradition attempt got off to a shaky start when US Attorney General John Ashcroft said the cleric could face the death penalty if found guilty.

The US authorities had to make a hurried concession that his life would be spared because Britain does not allow the extradition of prisoners who could face the death penalty.

Mr Whitehouse, who has since remarried and teaches economics at a primary school in Farnborough, said he was glad Hamza would not be put to death.

He said: " I am glad that he will not be put to death. He should face jail sentence of at least 10 years if he is found guilty of my wife's murder.

"This country is a highly tolerant one and we encompass a broad band of views here, but no one should be allowed to preach views that hurt or harm anyone, anywhere.

"I am not sure whether I could go out and see him or face him though - how can you talk to fanatics, to terrorists, who do not value human life.

"They believe that they are justified in doing what they do and nothing you can say and nothing you can ever show will ever change their minds about that."