Radical Islamic cleric Abu Hamza will find out today if he has successfully challenged his convictions for incitement to murder and race-hate offences. Hamza, 48, was convicted of inciting his followers to murder non-Muslims and Jews and sentenced to seven years in February. He was also convicted of stirring up racial hatred and possessing a terror "manual", the Encyclopaedia of the Afghani Jihad.
During recent appeal proceedings it was argued on Hamza's behalf that a fair trial was made "impossible" by the delay in prosecuting him. His attorney argues that 9/11 and the July 2005 bombings in London, along with a campaign against him by the media and leading politicians "prejudiced" his chances of a fair trial.
The prosecution case against him was that in sermons at the Finsbury Park mosque in north London and in Luton, Blackburn and Whitechapel, east London, "he was preaching terrorism, homicidal violence and hatred". A ruling in his case will be announced at the Court of Appeal in London.
UPDATE 11/28 @ 12:21: Hamza has lost the appeal. The decision removes one more hurdle to Hamza's potential extradition to the U.S. for trial over his alleged involvement in the kidnapping of U.S. and other western tourists in Yemen, the sending of recruits to Afghanistan for terrorist training, and conspiracy to establish a "jihadist" training camp in the U.S.
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