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Jane Rosenberg / Reuters
In this courtroom sketch, Islamist cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri is seen standing with his lawyer Jeremy Schneider in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, where he pleaded not guilty to criminal charges on Tuesday.
An extremist preacher accused of terrorism by the U.S. government pleaded not guilty Tuesday to charges related to conspiring with Seattle men to set up a terrorist training camp in Oregon.
Egyptian-born Abu Hamza al-Masri, indicted under that name Mustafa Kamel Mustafa, is accused of providing material support to al-Qaida network by trying to set up a terrorist training camp in Bly, Ore., in 1999 and of attempting to organize support for the Taliban in Afghanistan.
Hamza is also charged with helping abduct 16 hostages — including two Americans — in Yemen in 1998; three Britons and an Australian were killed.
After Hamza's plea, U.S. District Judge Katherine B. Forrest set the 54-year-old's trial to begin Aug. 26, 2013, The Associated Press reported.
Previous story: Abu Hamza, 4 others tied to al-Qaida arrive in US to face terrorism charges
Hamza, a British citizen, is known for turning London's Finsbury Park Mosque into a training ground for extremist Islamists, including Sept. 11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui and "shoe bomber" Richard Reid. Hamza had been jailed in Britain since 2004 on separate charges.
He was flown late on Friday to the United States along with four other men also wanted on U.S. terrorism charges. Hamza could face up to life in prison if convicted on the charges.
He reportedly has unusual needs in prison: He is missing an eye, he has lost part of each of his arms, and lawyers in England said he suffers from diabetes, depression and chronic sleep deprivation.
Earlier Tuesday, the trial date for two of the other men brought from England — Khaled al-Fawwaz and Adel Abdul Bary — was set for October 2013. Al-Fawwaz and Bary are charged with participating in the bombings of embassies in Tanzania and Kenya in August 1998. The two were indicted in a case that also charged Osama bin Laden. Both al-Fawwaz and Bary have pleaded not guilty.
This article includes reporting by The Associated Press and Reuters.
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Leave a Comment:
Please don't spend millions of dollars housing these terrorists in American Prisons for life, they will live better and longer lives in US custody that is for sure. They will probably outlive me and won't have to worry about healthcare, shelter or food and get freebies all the way, if found guilty they should be shot in the back of the courthouse and their bodies shipped back to their stinking homelands.
Amen....
Trial begins August 26th 2013!!! What ever happened to due process in the country?
As Judge Roy Bean said, "You got anything to say before I find you guilty and hang ya?"
Uh, the due process is the trial, duh !
You see, we really can prevail and have the rule of law. We don't have to follow the philosophy of "Shoot, Ready, Aim" in order to defeat those who would attack us.
So almost a year to get ready for trial is too short for you? Do you even own a calendar?
This is precisely how not to handle terrorists. We are at war with militant Islam, and as in any war, prisoners are detained until the cessation of hostilities. At that time they are released or exchanged.
Criminalizing terrorism allows these murderers to mock our legal system and provide inspiration to future terrorists. Send him to Gitmo for indefinite detention. Do not give him a forum from which to preach martyrdom.
Agreed.
No US citizen gets anything from these Islamic dirtbags except a dirty kitchen knife to the throat...
Gitmo! Terrorists retirement compound! Send him there, more like the dessert he came from!
We should not be spending our tax dollars defending these terrorists. They are not citizens of the US and should not be allowed access to our court system at all!
Poor baby - we should have had a battlefield trial for him and ended his terrorist ways right then and there so he wouldn't have to suffer any more. Stuff him in a hole and don't spend a dime on him.
Why bother with trial? He hasn't earned the right for a trial. Just set him in general population at the facility he is being held at. He would get taken care of pretty quickly.
$ .38 bullet, $ .25 garbage bag, $20.00 for two men with shovels for one hour = problem solved - next.....
Those are pretty low wages for such difficult labor. Need to double that part of it, 20 bucks each and a six pack. I'll pay it.
Kill him, I highly doubt anyone cares except his family who probably don't even know where he is and what he does. Plus if he does go to a US prison he will probably go out like Mr. Dahmer :) lol
He has lived far too long already.
he shouldn't be in a court room unless it's a military court and since when do non americans have the same rights as an american? yea I know since when but it doesn't make it right OFF WITH HIS HEAD
No, this is America. We are not the Taliban. He will get his day in court. When he is found guilty, strap him to a MOAB and drop him back in his own sh*tty country.
Come on.....have a heart. Hamza suffers from diabetes, sleep deprivation, depression.......( one eye, no hands? Hmmmm, what's that about?) I'd prescribe lots of insulin then Halcion for sleep, that should cure the depression too. Happy Trails Hamza.
Abu Hamza al-Masri is a Preacher for the Holy Taliban and Prussian Hussars which is the Holy Army ordained by God to serve this Kingdom of Heaven and Earth for His Majesty King of Heaven and Earth Jehovah Hohenzollern.
And in God's law he has mandated one Kingdom and one King Jehovah Hohenzollern of Heaven and Earth and if there shall be a border or country there shall be presence of God.
The United States of America must acknowledge the fact that Al-Qaida is a wrongful government that is manipulating the Holy Taliban into fighting a Holy War in which is causing our Holy Taliban to defect. (Runaway Holy Taliban). His theory is correct with God and cannot be held accountable for Al-Qaidas actions.
- Imperial and Royal House of Hohenzollern His Imperial and Royal Majesty King of Prussia Fernidad Frederick
Yeah? Holy Taliban? Holy Crap.........why, whatever do you mean King Fernidad? lol.....
That is why religion is useless in MODERN society which is why the so-called "Holy" Taliban will kill anyone who speaks out against them
if he is that much trouble why is it that the British don't charge him? why do we bring all these miss fits to the U.S. for trial? must be so the lawyers get big paychecks, and the tax payers get the shaft!
They did charge, try and convict him in Briton. He did his time over there and was released. Now he was extradited here to face charges for crimes he did/ attempt in the United States or against our citizens.
smear him with bacon grease take his hook and shove it up his rectum water board him slap him around a little then hang him in a public square to send a message to the terrorists this is what you will get because this is what you preach i will be happy to put the noose around his muslim neck
Well, if he says he's not guilty then that's the end of it, huh?