LONDON: Radical Islamic cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri may be extradited to the United States to face possible charges of backing Al Qaeda and involvement in hostage-taking, a court ruled on Thursday.

The one-eyed, hook-handed former imam of the Finsbury Park Mosque in north London has been behind bars since being sentenced to seven years in February 2006 on charges of race hate and soliciting to murder.

Hamza, who appeared in court by video-link from the high-security Belmarsh jail in south-east London where he is being held, was originally arrested on an extradition warrant from the US authorities in May 2004.

But the extradition process was put on hold while until after his trial at London’s Central Criminal Court and attempt to appeal his conviction, which his legal team claimed was politically motivated.

The path was cleared for the extradition hearing when Britain’s highest court ruled in January this year that he had no grounds for appeal.

Thursday’s decision still has to be approved by British Home Secretary Jacqui Smith.

The United States claims that Hamza, who is Egyptian by birth but British by marriage, was part of a global plot to wage holy war or jihad against Western countries.

Washington wants Hamza, 48, to stand trial on charges of abducting Western tourists in Yemen in 1998 and helping to set up a training camp for Islamist extremists in the north-west US state of Oregon.

“The general allegation is that Mr Hamza is a member of a global conspiracy to wage jihad (holy war) against the US and other Western countries,” Hugo Keith, representing the US government, said at the start of the hearing in May.

The holy war is carried out “in numerous parts of the world — the UK, Afghanistan, Yemen and US,” he added.

Hamza “advocated the defence of Islam through unlawful, violent and armed aggression in order to influence the US government,” Keith charged.

In his ruling on Thursday, judge Timothy Workman, said: “The defendant is currently serving a sentence of imprisonment in the United Kingdom but... I propose to send the matter to the Secretary of State (Home secretary) for (her) decision on whether the defendant should be extradited to America.” Hamza’s lawyer Alun Jones said he would make submissions to the Home Office and write to the government’s most senior legal adviser, the attorney general, to urge the case be prosecuted in Britain.

He said the most serious offences should be prosecuted in Britain because three British citizens, but no Americans, were killed in the Yemen attack.

Hamza was questioned by Scotland Yard detectives in 1999 about his alleged links to the kidnappers and held in custody for several days before being released without charge. He has always denied any involvement.

The cleric, dubbed ‘Hook’ by some British tabloid newspapers because of his prosthetic right hand, will remain in prison until the home secretary’s decision, Workman ruled.

Finsbury Park mosque became a haven for extremists under Hamza’s tenure, with ‘shoe bomber’ Richard Reid and Zaccarias Moussaoui — the only man ever convicted over the 9/11 attacks — attending to hear the firebrand cleric.

The spider’s web of associations between the mosque, extremists and plots around the world also reportedly included some of the four suicide bombers who attacked London in July 2005, killing 52 innocent people.

The mosque has now been renamed and is under new moderate management.—AFP