Cleric al-Masri loses bid to avoid extradition to US on terror charges

Four terrorists wanted on charges in the U.S. have lost their case at the European Court of Human Rights and will be extradicted to the US after years of legal battles. ITV's Lucy Manning reports

Adrian Dennis / AFP - Getty Images file

Fiery Muslim preacher Abu Hamza al-Masri in a file picture taken Jan. 20, 2003.

The European Court of Human Rights gave final approval on Monday for the extradition of one of Britain's most radical Islamist clerics and four others to the United States, where they face terrorism charges.

The decision caps a long legal battle and means Abu Hamza al-Masri could be extradited within weeks. Britain's Home Office, or interior ministry, said it would hand over the suspects "as quickly as possible."

The Egyptian-born al-Masri, 54, filed an appeal, along with the four other suspects, after the court in Strasbourg authorized Britain to transfer him to the United States on charges he supported al-Qaida and aided a fatal kidnapping in Yemen.


Al-Masri, who could face a sentence of more than 100 years in an ultrasecure "Supermax" prison, had argued such treatment would contravene Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which prohibits inhumane and degrading treatment.

"Today the Grand Chamber decided to reject the request. This means that the Chamber judgment of April 10, 2012, is now final," the court said in a statement.

The decision also concerned appeals lodged by four other defendants, Babar Ahmad, Syed Tahla Ahsan, Adel Abdul Bary and Khaled Al-Fawwaz, all of whom have been detained in Britain pending extradition to the United States.

A Home Office spokesman said that "we will work to ensure that the individuals are handed over to the U.S. authorities as quickly as possible."

The family of Ahmad called on the government to halt the extradition process, saying British prosecutors were in possession of the material that forms the basis of the U.S. indictment and should pursue the case in Britain.

Al-Masri is one of the most radical Islamists in Britain, a country he has attacked for its support of U.S.-led wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The one-eyed radical with a metal hook for a hand has praised the September 11, 2001, attacks, and was once a preacher at a North London mosque but was later convicted of inciting murder and racial hatred. He is being held in a British jail.

He was indicted in 2004 by a federal grand jury in New York, accused of providing material support to al-Qaida and of involvement in a hostage-taking in Yemen in 1998 in which four hostages -- three Britons and one Australian -- were killed.

He was also accused of providing material support to al-Qaida by trying to set up a training camp for fighters in Oregon and of trying to organize support for the Taliban in Afghanistan.

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Welcome to America! :D

  • 8 votes
Reply#1 - Mon Sep 24, 2012 5:45 PM EDT

Let him have his trial, but use the Iranian or Chinese model . . . the whole bucken thing over in three days flat . . . followed by an open court confession plus few words about the wisdom of the court and the legitimacy of his sentence and how SORRY he is.

Let's NOT have some arsehole-faced lawyer trying to make a name for himself over this POS.

  • 9 votes
#1.1 - Mon Sep 24, 2012 6:31 PM EDT

100 years in prison is inhumane torture?????? Ahhhh we are preventing him from his religious duties of killing the infidels. How dare we prevent him from killing our evil our families.

  • 12 votes
#1.2 - Mon Sep 24, 2012 7:32 PM EDT

Hope the b@$tard gets a bath when he is waterboarded!

  • 5 votes
#1.3 - Tue Sep 25, 2012 1:05 AM EDT

Welcome to the United States al masri, you know well Article 3 for yourself but you sure don't know Article 3 when you commited the inhumane killing doncha. We are looking forward to having your stay for the rest of your life behind bars. For sure you are a pathetic killer and on the run and such a coward infidel pig when facing the reward of your act and rot in the cell. You can't man up since you can not start preaching your venomous sermon inciting hatred anymore to the public. better wear a hijab and pretend as a one

  • 5 votes
#1.4 - Tue Sep 25, 2012 2:07 AM EDT

Hope the b@$tard gets a bath when he is waterboarded!

Better still: Waterboard him in a bathtub, and then to straighten his crooked ideology, throw the ignominious scumbag in the spin dryer

  • 4 votes
#1.5 - Tue Sep 25, 2012 2:08 AM EDT

If the planned course U.S. legal action against al-Masri doesn't include execution, then we are wasting time and money. It's the money that pisses me off. Arabs/Muslims can rampage and murder all over the world because of some stupid video that any American teenager can make on his cell phone, yet we give this terrorist due process. It's time to use a little more common sense in dealing with these Muslim a$$holes and a little less American time and money. Execute him and throw his carcass out with the trash. The worms have to eat as well.

  • 6 votes
#1.6 - Tue Sep 25, 2012 5:39 AM EDT

Honest - we treat them how human beings should be treated, because we are civilized people. We are better than they are in that regard. If we remove their rights then we hurt ourselves.

  • 1 vote
#1.7 - Tue Sep 25, 2012 5:02 PM EDT

I like the idea when we make them fish food.

  • 2 votes
#1.8 - Wed Sep 26, 2012 1:17 PM EDT

HonestJ ~ I understand your anger over the fact that we treat people humanely and fairly, who we don't feel deserve it. But, as sildenafil stated, we are better than these terrorists, and it will do us no good to come down to their level.

    #1.9 - Wed Sep 26, 2012 1:21 PM EDT

    They need to force feed him pork and make him wear pig skin shoes and jacket until the day he dies and then throw a pig carcass in with him in his casket when he dies.

    • 1 vote
    #1.10 - Wed Sep 26, 2012 7:32 PM EDT
    Reply

    They are not American citizens and they should NOT have recourse to a civilian trial. All suspected terrorists should be tried in a military court.

    • 20 votes
    Reply#2 - Mon Sep 24, 2012 5:55 PM EDT

    They should be shot on sight! But this way they will bury them in legal nonsense, they will die behind bars!!

    • 6 votes
    #2.1 - Mon Sep 24, 2012 6:14 PM EDT

    I wouldn't mind if they accidentally fell out the door of the airplane over the Atlantic on the way here .

    • 9 votes
    #2.2 - Mon Sep 24, 2012 8:15 PM EDT

    Wrap him in bacon, stuff a pork chop in his mouth, put some lead boots on him, and give him a parachute. Put him in a C-130 and open the cargo bay door somewhere between London and Greenland, so he has some time to contemplate the error of his ways while soiling his undergarments on the way down. Film the whole thing. It should make millions.

    • 3 votes
    #2.3 - Tue Sep 25, 2012 8:07 AM EDT

    Take OUT the trash, not bring it IN!

    • 1 vote
    #2.4 - Tue Sep 25, 2012 10:30 AM EDT

    Unfortunately, it looks like the British brought the trash "in "a few years back. I love how he's called "a British cleric". Hardly a character in a Miss Marple mystery. US punishment will be far more severe than any punishment handed out in Europe, so thank YOU USA! (sincerely intended).

      #2.5 - Tue Sep 25, 2012 1:32 PM EDT
      Reply

      Get his room ready at Gitmo.

      • 3 votes
      Reply#3 - Mon Sep 24, 2012 5:58 PM EDT

      The cages and jumpsuits are ready!! So is the water boarding team!!! I hope these a-holes love loud music, bet they never tthought they'd see Cuban soil! The one-eyed queer will lose the weight!!!

      • 5 votes
      Reply#4 - Mon Sep 24, 2012 6:12 PM EDT

      Welcome to New Amerika! Water boarding, torture, secret rendition, secret trials, warrantless wiretapping, drone assassinations, unlimited solitary ... we do it all baby. We don't need no stink'n habeas corpus or Constitution either for that matter. Just a little too "quaint" for the New Amerka!

      • 6 votes
      Reply#5 - Mon Sep 24, 2012 6:24 PM EDT

      Implacable Pat.; ;Patriot of which countries.Iran.Somalia,Pakistan.Venezuela .Newsvine permits you to express your psycho babble..and the U.S doesn`t censure Newsvine.Your analysis is complete nonsense and completely absurd!!

      • 5 votes
      #5.1 - Mon Sep 24, 2012 9:01 PM EDT

      Hey, IMPLECABLE PATRIOT! You gonna LOOK FUNNEY, going to the HOSPITAL to get my FOOT out of your SORRY SSA! by the way, why don't you SHAVE, YOUR SSA and WALK BACKWARDS!

      • 3 votes
      #5.2 - Mon Sep 24, 2012 11:34 PM EDT

      Although there is some truth to Implacable patriot's argument, you can exclude this type of people from those deserving human rights protection. Those who slit the throats of fellow humans just because they don't believe in the same God may need that we turn the blind eye to their rights.

      • 1 vote
      #5.3 - Tue Sep 25, 2012 5:03 AM EDT

      Patriot, are you on drugs?

        #5.4 - Tue Sep 25, 2012 5:30 AM EDT

        Patriot: Which non US citizens should take advantage of our Constitution? The one's that are nicey nicey?

        • 1 vote
        #5.5 - Tue Sep 25, 2012 12:51 PM EDT
        Reply

        lost one eye and a metal hook for a hand? If only this news had hit on September 19th, "talk like a pirate day"...."AAArrrh, Matey, Ye be headin' for a keelhauling, ye scruvy dog!"

        • 1 vote
        Reply#6 - Mon Sep 24, 2012 6:36 PM EDT

        No hooks in supermax. Hope he can use a plastic spork with his toes.

        • 2 votes
        #6.1 - Mon Sep 24, 2012 6:51 PM EDT

        he probably lost the hand first , then had an itch but forgot there was a hook there instead .

        • 3 votes
        #6.2 - Mon Sep 24, 2012 8:17 PM EDT
        Reply

        He doesn't seem to worry at all about cruel and degrading treatment of the person he had kidnapped and MURDERED! Shave his beard, throw his organ grinder monkey hat and give him nothing to read but the Saturday Evening Post.

        • 4 votes
        Reply#7 - Mon Sep 24, 2012 7:04 PM EDT

        Maybe we can get him a cell w Mr. Faceater.

        • 2 votes
        Reply#8 - Mon Sep 24, 2012 7:18 PM EDT

        lol!!! reminds me of this event. predator kills predator. my question - which one is the snake???

        http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4313978.stm

          #8.1 - Mon Sep 24, 2012 8:19 PM EDT

          theres only one snake, with two heads.

            #8.2 - Mon Sep 24, 2012 11:41 PM EDT
            Reply

            Al-Masri, who could face a sentence of more than 100 years in an ultrasecure "Supermax" prison, had argued such treatment would contravene Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which prohibits inhumane and degrading treatment.

            Human rights must be extremely important to al-masri but what's this???

            The one-eyed radical with a metal hook for a hand has praised the September 11, 2001, attacks, and was once a preacher at a North London mosque but was later convicted of inciting murder and racial hatred. He is being held in a British jail.

            hhhmmmm...maybe they're only important when it concerns his rights.

            • 2 votes
            Reply#9 - Mon Sep 24, 2012 8:14 PM EDT

            He's worried about degrading treatment even though he helped orchestrate murdering people.Unbelievable gall and worse is that, we the taxpayer,will be supporting him until his death.

            • 5 votes
            Reply#10 - Mon Sep 24, 2012 9:54 PM EDT
            Comment author avatarCitizen Kanevia Facebook

            This terrorist has nothing to worry about. Obama will treat him like a hero and probably let him stay in the Lincoln room of the White House while vacationing here.

            • 3 votes
            Reply#11 - Mon Sep 24, 2012 10:00 PM EDT

            You need to actually learn the facts about who has killed more non-battlefield terrorists president 43 or 44. The one who has authorized more drone strikes in more countries and then there was that "little" SEAL team hit.

            • 3 votes
            #11.1 - Mon Sep 24, 2012 11:28 PM EDT

            You're lucky breathing is a motor function, because if it wasn't I fear you're too stupid to remember to breath.

            • 2 votes
            #11.2 - Tue Sep 25, 2012 9:50 AM EDT
            Reply

            How the United States of America and the world deals with evil will be determined with our next election. Will be on a road of apology or on a road of strength and resolve. More than we can ever imagine depends on it.

            • 5 votes
            Reply#12 - Mon Sep 24, 2012 10:02 PM EDT

            Byron, remember it is the Obama administration that fought his extradition appeals.

              #12.1 - Tue Sep 25, 2012 4:59 AM EDT

              jjfriaz banned, racist remarks.

              • 2 votes
              #12.2 - Thu Sep 27, 2012 6:57 PM EDT
              Reply
              jjfriazDeleted

              the thing i see wrong is that he will be able to spill the hate as he tells he side of things, which is his right to do so in America. i hate to see him in with others is prison as he will poison other. he needs to be put by himself as to not contaminate other with his hate. The hook has to go as to not harm others. because we are Americans and do have laws and he will have rights that he never gave to those he killed, we can show him what American are( he will not see it). I really wish sometime we were more like them, but at the same time i am glad we are not.

              • 2 votes
              Reply#14 - Tue Sep 25, 2012 1:04 AM EDT

              I believe that the SOB is wanted in Jordan . . . so perhaps the smart thing is to give him to the Jordanians with a wink and baksheesh. They've already tried him in absentia, and so the hanging will be done PDQ.

              • 1 vote
              #14.1 - Tue Sep 25, 2012 2:12 AM EDT

              ORB, Jordan laws although harsh but not as harsh as the US's believe me. Life sentence in Jordan is 20 years. In the US you can guarantee he does not see the light of day.

                #14.2 - Tue Sep 25, 2012 4:57 AM EDT
                Reply

                They kill and terrorize innocent people but when they are captured, they don't want cruel, inhumane punishments. It is too evil. cry me a river idiot.

                • 3 votes
                Reply#15 - Tue Sep 25, 2012 1:20 AM EDT

                Face the wrath of the US POS. I'm glad he and the other scum lost the appeal. Although it is unfortunate that our values are sinking down low so we can deal with his likes, terrorists like him need to be dealt with swiftly so they don't use our laws to hurt us. I am all for human rights but this kind of scum value no human rights or human lives.

                • 2 votes
                Reply#16 - Tue Sep 25, 2012 4:56 AM EDT

                Looks like these Muslim cockroaches are getting long overdue one-way trips to maximum security US roach motels for the betterment and enlightenment of others, really . . .

                Really! :-D

                • 2 votes
                Reply#17 - Tue Sep 25, 2012 6:07 AM EDT

                Al Quaida, The Taliban, The Iranian Imams, do NOT have fair trials or fair lawa. They impose their own set of street rules and justice. Women are property. Christians are infidels. Jews are dogs. They send kids with bombs to blow themselves up. So, call it what you will. It is hard to feel sorry for someone who spews hate, war, murder. I believe they have enough on this "man of the cloth" to give him what he deserves.

                • 1 vote
                Reply#18 - Tue Sep 25, 2012 6:51 AM EDT

                The man is a dog, he went into a London street and preached to kill people of the very country he took the passport of. There are thousands like this monkey on every street corner in UK. Round them up take out in a submarine and sink it.

                • 2 votes
                Reply#19 - Tue Sep 25, 2012 6:52 AM EDT

                Why waste a perfectly good submarine? Strap them to the hull exterior, and go out on a deep diving training mission. Surface, cut them loose, return to port, repeat process.

                • 1 vote
                #19.1 - Tue Sep 25, 2012 8:11 AM EDT
                Reply

                This is a great day for American lawyers. They can feed off this trial for years.

                  Reply#20 - Tue Sep 25, 2012 8:25 AM EDT

                  Oh well another "brother" for Obama to "pardon" on the way out the door...

                  • 1 vote
                  Reply#21 - Tue Sep 25, 2012 9:10 AM EDT

                  And another clueless, idiot, hater is heard from!

                    #21.1 - Tue Sep 25, 2012 9:54 AM EDT
                    Reply

                    Just drop him in the Atlantic from da chopper.....from about 5k feet up.

                    • 1 vote
                    Reply#22 - Tue Sep 25, 2012 9:10 AM EDT

                    Being British I can't wait to see the back of him. Governments have been trying for years to extradite him, however since we are part of the EU, our own laws are undermined by those of Europe. The Human Rights Act has become a criminal's charter to get away with murder and now the rights of the individual are valued more than the human of the majority. What annoys me is that he was allowed to settle in the UK in the first place. Anyone with any terrorist connections should be sent right back to where they came from, without the recourse to appeal, do not pass go, do not collect £200. Unfortunately, we in the UK are plagued by liberal hand-wringers who worry more about upsetting the minority, instead of ensuring that the minority integrate with the majority. Goodbye to bad rubbish and I hope he, and his ilk, rot.

                    • 2 votes
                    Reply#23 - Tue Sep 25, 2012 9:32 AM EDT

                    Stick his terrorist butt in Florence, CO.

                    Forever.

                    • 1 vote
                    Reply#24 - Tue Sep 25, 2012 9:50 AM EDT

                    Same treatment that his Al Qaeda followers use...off with his head! Of course never will happen but would be nice if it did.

                    • 1 vote
                    Reply#25 - Tue Sep 25, 2012 10:10 AM EDT

                    my only problem is that the U.S. does not give up those that other country's want extradited, for example the CIA agents wanted in Italy for kidnaping!

                      Reply#26 - Tue Sep 25, 2012 10:29 AM EDT

                      There's always one in the crowd, ronald. and today it's you.

                      • 1 vote
                      #26.1 - Tue Sep 25, 2012 11:37 AM EDT
                      Reply
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