UK Muslim cleric faces extradition
 |  Abu Hamza al-Masri |
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|  VIDEO |
 Ashcroft says U.S. seeks Hamza's extradition
 British, U.S. authorities: Hamza a dangerous radical
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LONDON, England (CNN) -- A radical Muslim cleric is facing extradition proceedings in Britain which could see him sent to the United States to face terrorism charges.
Abu Hamza al-Masri was held in London on a U.S. extradition warrant on May 27. He is due to appear at the high-security Belmarsh Magistrates' Court in southeast London Friday.
He is accused in the U.S. indictment of trying to establish a terrorist training camp in Oregon, U.S. officials said.
U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft, speaking in May, said: "We are actively seeking Hamza's extradition from Great Britain to face justice in our courts on these serious charges."
An 11-count indictment accuses the cleric of providing material support to al Qaeda and the Taliban in 1999 and 2000 and of plotting with an Islamic group that kidnapped a group of tourists in Yemen in December 1998, Ashcroft said.
Three British hostages and one Australian died in a rescue attempt by Yemeni forces.
Ashcroft said the 47-year-old Egyptian native -- born Mustafa Kamel Mustafa -- could face a death sentence or life in prison without parole on charges related to the kidnapping.
But British prosecutors say the United States has told Britain it will not seek the death penalty against Abu Hamza.
Britain bars capital punishment and forbids extradition in cases in which the death penalty could be imposed without written assurances that a death sentence would not be imposed. (Extradition could take months)
Ashcroft said other charges contained in the indictment carry sentences of up to 100 years in prison.
"This is a matter of serious concern to us, and we believe that justice needs to be done," he said.
The indictment, returned in April, accuses Abu Hamza of raising money for and steering volunteers toward al Qaeda and Afghanistan's Taliban militia, the country's onetime rulers, from October 1999 to early 2000.
The charges state that he helped al Qaeda volunteers travel from Britain to Afghanistan, and that he plotted to establish a "training camp for violent jihad" in Bly, Oregon.
It also accuses him of providing a satellite telephone to a leader of the Islamic Army of Aden, a Yemeni militant group. Ashcroft said calls were made from that phone to Abu Hamza's house the day before the December 28, 1998, raid on a tourist caravan that resulted in the taking of 16 hostages, including two Americans.
"The indictment further alleges that Hamza spoke to the co-conspirators after the attack, agreed to act as an intermediary for them, and ordered 500 British pounds worth of additional airtime for the satellite phone being used by the terrorists," Ashcroft said.
Another allegation is that a U.S. citizen raised money in the United States for Abu Hamza's mosque, and that money was used to send two of his followers to Afghanistan with instructions to seek out a "front-line commander" at a jihad training camp there.
The indictment also states the cleric urged followers to donate money, goods and services to Taliban-sponsored programs from spring 2000 to September 6, 2001 -- five days before the al Qaeda attacks on New York and Washington that killed nearly 3,000 people and triggered a U.S. military campaign that ousted the Taliban.
The U.S. and British governments and some in the Muslim mainstream consider Abu Hamza a dangerous radical whose views nourish hatred mainly among disaffected young Britons. Britain has moved to revoke his citizenship.
He has delivered sermons castigating the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq as a "war against Islam." He claimed the September 11, 2001, attacks were a Jewish plot and said U.S. astronauts were "punished by Allah" when space shuttle Columbia disintegrated on re-entry in 2003. (Abu Hamza profile)
Shoe bomber Richard Reid and Zacarias Moussaoui, the only person facing trial in U.S. courts in connection with the September 11 attacks, are also known to have attended the Finsbury Park mosque in north London where Abu Hamza preached.
Abu Hamza -- who says he lost both hands and an eye in a land mine explosion while fighting the Soviet-backed government in Afghanistan -- had continued to preach on the pavement outside the mosque while it was shut down in 2003.
