Friday, October 05, 2012

Abu Hamza to Be Extradited within Days after Final Appeal Fails

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Abu Hamza and four other terror suspects will be extradited to the US "immediately" after their last-ditch appeals were dismissed out of hand by senior judges.

Lawyers for the Islamist cleric had told the High Court his health was deteriorating so he should have an MRI scan to see if he was fit to plead.

Two of the other suspects, accused of hosting an extremist website, wanted to undergo a private prosecution in Britain rather than the US.

The remaining pair, accused of supporting Osama Bin Laden’s bomb attacks on US embassies in Africa in 1998, said new evidence showed they had no links to the campaign.

They made the fresh applications to stay extradition after the European Court of Human Rights rejected their appeal bid, and in some cases they have been fighting being sent to the US for trial for more than 10 years.

But Sir John Thomas, President of the Queen's Bench Division, and Mr Justice Ouseley, dismissed their claims in a judgment delivered on Friday afternoon.

It means Hamza and the other suspects should be flown to the US to face trial within a few days. » | Martin Beckford, Home Affairs Editor | Friday, October 05, 2012