Human Rights Court Rejects Extradition Appeal By UK Islamist

The European Court of Human Rights on Monday gave final approval for one of Britain’s most radical Islamist clerics, Abu Hamza al-Masri, to be extradited to the United States with four others to be tried for terrorism.

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

Al-Masri, 54, could face a sentence of over 100 years in an ultra-secure “Supermax” prison, and had argued that 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 judgement of April 10, 2012, is now final,” the ECHR 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 spokesperson for Britain’s Home Office welcomed the outcome, adding that Britain would work to ensure that all five individuals were handed over to U.S. authorities as quickly as possible.

Al-Masri is one of the most radical Islamists in Britain, where he 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 Qaeda and of involvement in a hostage taking in Yemen in 1998 in which four hostages were killed.

Reuters