He then later styled himself 'sheikh' (a name Muslims give for a 'learned cleric' ... and an oxymoron in this case if ever there was one), and started 'preaching' in a London mosque at Finsbury park .... surrounded by the idiots who follow these people, such is the British way, these fine days.
Abu Hamza al-Masri - Tarmac Road Warrior, Not Holy Warrior |
His conviction in the US marks exactly how low UK justice has sunk. All the same evidence was available on his active involvement in terrorism activities that led to the deaths of British and Commonwealth citizens, but the UK we couldn't risk a trial, because in the current climate in the UK it was likely to fail, probably on some technicality, or maybe a European Human Rights violation in the process ...who knows. Certainly the Home Office didn't. Apparently even Her Majesty the Queen was totally confused by the fact that man was free to walk London preaching hate without the Police or Courts able to act.
So despite the overwhelming evidence of his involvement in extremist Islamic crimes, to whit:
- He sent a Satellite phone directly to the leader of a very violent Jihadist group in Yemen
- The Jihadist group then took 16 western hostages in Yemen in 1998 ... Three Britons and an Australian died when Yemeni forces rescued the hostages.
- His Son and Stepson had been arrested in Yemen for terrorism offences including the Yemen attack.
- The fact that he had been trying to swap the western hostages for his children.
He remained free to cause untold damage in the UK and elsewhere, before the US stepped in. The only US citizen in the Yemen outrage was wounded, but that was enough for the US authorities to start gathering evidence ... and even then it took 16 - yes really, 16 years before our legal process could be forced to extradite him to the US ... shameful on our whole country.
During his US trial, about the only truth he told was when he admitted that he never lost his hands and eye fighting in the Soviets in Afghanistan, but in a road building accident in Pakistan when he was a manual labourer there (he couldn't pass himself off as a Sheikh in Pakistan), and some road explosives went off in his hands .... that's about as near as he got to 'Jihad' ... but I guess that makes him a tarmac road warrior.
So, No holy warrior, No trained cleric. Just a semi-literate road labourer and ex night club bouncer who had never fought the Soviets, or risked his neck in Islamic Jihad.
After your comment I have looked up his family: I have to be careful due to legal constraints (presumably because even his youngest sons are criminals), but essentially your comment seems to be correct.
ReplyDelete1) He was on benefits and had a council house, estimated to be worth £1.25 million (according to news reports).
2) Mohssin Ghailam (stepson) - Currently in prison with an 4 year sentence for £1m+ car fraud with DVLA documents. He previously did 7 years prison in the Yemen for terrorist offences which were part of Abu Hamza's reasons for helping kidnap western tourists.
3) Mohammed Mostafa (Biological son) - Currently in prison with an 2 year sentence for £1m+ car fraud with DVLA documents. He previously did 3 years prison in the Yemen for terrorist offences which were part of Abu Hamza's reasons for helping kidnap western tourists.
4) Imran Mostafa (Biological son) - Currently in prison with an 11 year sentence for a violent armed robbery in Kings Lynn for £70,000 of jewellery.
5) According to Wikipedia, Yasser Kamel (Biological son) - was sentenced to youth detention in 2010, for violent disorder at anti-Israel protests in 2009 when he attacked the police.
6) His other son is unnamed, but according to reports was tried for a serious offence recently, but cleared - he has however apparently already been to prison for another offence, the nature of which was not reported for legal reasons.
So apparently the entire male family are criminals - and yet he was considered a preacher of Islam. It says everything you need to know about them all, when a family of criminals are role models for some Muslims.