Cleric linked to 9-11 plotter sentenced
(AP)
Updated: 2006-02-08 09:20

Under British law, the domestic charges took precedence over the extradition case, but al-Masri could now be sent to the United States for prosecution.

In Washington, U.S. Justice Department spokesman Bryan Sierra said the United States "stands ready to resume the extradition proceedings against Abu Hamza when British law allows."

In his trial at London's Central Criminal Court, al-Masri, whose real name is Mustafa Kamel Mustafa, faced charges of soliciting the murder of others, "namely a person or persons who did not believe in the Islamic faith."

He was also charged with "using threatening or abusive language designed to stir racial hatred, possessing threatening or abusive recordings, and possessing a document likely to be useful in terrorism — the 'Encyclopedia of the Afghani Jihad.'"

The cleric, who says he lost his eye and both hands in Afghanistan during the Soviet occupation, became a high-profile radical and a hate figure for British tabloids, who called him "Dr. Hook."

After he was expelled from the mosque by administrators in 2003, he led Friday prayers in the street until his 2004 arrest on a U.S. extradition warrant. He has been detained in the high-security Belmarsh prison.

During the trial, al-Masri, who has called the Sept. 11 attacks a Jewish plot and the invasion of Iraq a war on Islam, denied any involvement in violence, saying he was only a spokesman for political causes.

But prosecutor David Perry told the jury that al-Masri "was a recruiting sergeant, a recruiting officer for terrorism and murder."

Defense lawyer Edward Fitzgerald told jurors that although some of what the radical preacher said was offensive and "a bit over the top," he was not "intending to incite anybody to do anything specific."

Attorney General Lord Goldsmith, the government's chief legal adviser, said that while free speech was important, "encouraging murder and inciting hatred against others because of their race will never be tolerated."

But a Muslim leader said the verdict would trouble some in the Muslim community.

"This is creating an environment that can only further alienate the Muslim community," said Massoud Shadjareh, chairman of the Islamic Human Rights Commission.