The good news keeps comming

[Horus]

This news item cheered me up no end, justice at last for this scumbag, let just hope that we don't let him serve any sentence he gets off the Yanks in a Brit prison.
I did have to smile at his real name though is it really Mustafa Kamel? 'Must Have A Camel'


NEW YORK (Reuters) - London imam Abu Hamza al-Masri was convicted of terrorism charges in New York on Monday, following a four-week trial that shined a spotlight on the preacher's controversial anti-Western statements.

After deliberating for less than two days, a jury of eight men and four women found Abu Hamza, 56, guilty on all 11 counts he faced, handing Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara his second high-profile terrorism conviction in three months.

Abu Hamza could face life in prison when he is sentenced in September.

Prosecutors had charged the one-eyed, handless Abu Hamza with providing a satellite phone and advice to Yemeni militants who kidnapped Western tourists in 1998, an operation that led to the deaths of four hostages.

Abu Hamza also was accused of dispatching two followers to Oregon to establish a militant training facility and sending an associate to Afghanistan to help al Qaeda and the Taliban.

His lawyers claimed the case relied largely on the incendiary language in his sermons at London's Finsbury Park mosque, which earned him notoriety as one of Britain’s most prominent radical Islamic voices.

Many of his words were played at trial, including an interview in which Abu Hamza expressed support for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people in the United States.

Defence lawyer Joshua Dratel said the relatively quick verdict demonstrated that the jurors reacted emotionally to the inflammatory statements rather than sticking to the evidence.

"This is what we feared, that there would be no deliberations at all, essentially," he said. "Beliefs are not a crime." He said he plans to appeal the conviction.

But the jury's foreman, Howard Bailynson, a 44-year-old Xerox employee, told reporters there was "no doubt" Abu Hamza received a fair trial.

Abu Hamza testified in his own defence, denying he sent anyone to Oregon or Afghanistan and claiming he became involved in the kidnapping only after it began, when he offered to negotiate a peaceful resolution.

Prosecutors countered with evidence that he spoke with the Yemeni militants’ leader the night before the kidnapping and that the two men who travelled to Oregon said he had sent them.

Speaking briefly to reporters, Bharara said the verdict proved once again that the U.S. justice system can handle high-profile terrorism trials.

"Abu Hamza attempted to portray himself as a preacher of faith," he said. "He was, instead, a trainer of terrorists."

In March, a different jury found Suleiman Abu Ghaith, a son-in-law of Osama bin Laden, guilty of terrorism-related charges.

Abu Hamza, who was indicted in the United States in 2004 under his birth name, Mustafa Kamel Mustafa, spent eight years in prison in the Britain for inciting violence before his 2012 extradition.

During the trial, Abu Hamza testified that he lost his arms and eye in an accidental explosion in Pakistan 20 years ago, contradicting widespread reports that he was injured while fighting the Soviets in Afghanistan.

(Reporting by Joseph Ax; Editing by Noeleen Walder, Chris Reese and Mohammad Zargham)

[LovelyLadyLux]

There should be a small island in the far far north surrounded by cold frigid waters. The rip tides should be fast and the land mass not large enough for planes to land and steep enough that ships can't disembark. Would only take 1 helicopter ride and 1 parachute.

[Horus]

Why bother with a parachute, just drop him in from several hundred feet up.

[carrie]

Just glad he has been tried in the USA he is now their responsibility, the Brits have spent enough on keeping him and his family.

[Horus]

Agreed Carrie, but our powers that be are daft enough to let him serve out his sentence here under his 'Human Rights'

[LovelyLadyLux]

Dunno 'where' in the USA he was tried but if it was in Texas (they have the death penalty) it would be put to good use.

[Grandad]

Agreed Carrie, but our powers that be are daft enough to let him serve out his sentence here under his 'Human Rights'

In a nice open prison with day release on Fridays to go shopping and to the mosque

[LovelyLadyLux]

Am sure I've shared it before but to me a prison should be a place where you go as punishment. You're awake early in the morning with assigned chores and tasks. No work means no food. Am sure you'd catch on pretty quick. I don't care if you can't see, have 1 leg, deaf, blind, mental defect cause there is always something you can do. If you want to pray you do it in your own off hours in the evening or during your lunch break.

If you want to watch TV or get some other perk then you have to do EXTRA to get that.

I honestly don't know when the powers that be will catch on that you gotta do something to get something and NOBODY should get a FREE RIDE. By FREE RIDE I mean that just cause you want something doesn't necessarily mean you'll automatically get it AND I really don't care about cultural considerations. If you want to do what you're doing in the OLD COUNTRY (that phrase is on my mind today!) then GO BACK there and FIT IN. Do NOT come here and expect to do what you did there!

I understand why our laws were set up as they were however times are changing and we cannot allow our laws to become archaic. They must remain contemporary and address issues we're facing in REAL TIME RIGHT NOW. We cannot make laws for the majority that only apply to the minority or exceptional situations and circumstances.