Egyptian-born Abu Hamza al-Masri, the radical Muslim cleric suspected of helping kidnap American tourists in Yemen in 1998 and attempting to establish a terrorist training camp in Oregon, arrived early Saturday in lower Manhattan from Britain after losing a nearly decade-long extradition fight.

The partially blind al-Masri, who taught at London’s infamous Finsbury Park mosque, is also believed to have mentored Sept. 11 conspirator Zacharias Moussaoui and Richard Reid, the failed “shoe bomber” who tried to destroy an airliner with explosives.

In the Manhattan courthouse, al-Masri’s court-appointed lawyer asked that his prosthetic hands be returned immediately “so he can use his arms.” The preacher typically uses hooks on his arms, but he showed up in court with exposed stumps, for reasons that were not immediately clear...

Along with several co-defendants -- including Khaled al-Fawwaz, Adel Abdul Bary, who have been implicated in the deadly 1998 bombings of two US embassies in Africa, and Syed Talha Ahsan and Babar Ahmad, who allegedly ran websites designed to funnel recruits and trainees to al-Qaeda -- al-Masri had sought to remain in Britain primarily because of human rights concerns.

The co-defendants, who each pleaded not guilty, believe they will face inhumane conditions in US prisons and think there is not enough proof to sustain the allegations against them, according to court documents.

The Extradition Act 2003, signed by Prime Minister Tony Blair and President George W. Bush in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks, permits the extradition of UK citizens to the US if a “reasonable suspicion” exists that they committed a crime against US law. Prior to that act’s ratification, the standard of proof required to extradite a British citizen was significantly higher, requiring a much stronger prima facie case.

By contrast, the extradition of US citizens to the UK demands a showing of “probable cause,” still a higher standard of proof than the one al-Masri and his c0-defendants faced. Existing human rights treaties prevent extradited defendants from either country from facing the death penalty.

British High Court Judges John Thomas and Duncan Ouseley denied the suspected terrorists’ request just hours before they were extradited both because the US met this low burden of proof and because of the nature of their crimes.

“[It is] in the interest of justice that those accused of very serious crimes, as each of these claimants is in these proceedings, are tried as quickly as possible as is consistent with the interests of justice,” Thomas wrote in the ruling. ”It follows that their extradition to the United States of America may proceed immediately.”

al-Masri has remained in a jail in Britain since 2004 due to inciting racial hatred and violence. He has called Sept. 11 ”a towering day in history” and told followers that Osama bin laden was “a good guy and a hero.”

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Editor's Note: Human rights concerns in US prisons? Hell, murderers like Manson, Gacy and Speck led a captive life of leisure in prison; television, computers and illegally access to all contraband that they wanted, including drugs. Compared to the harsh realities of British incarceration this objection can only be viewed as ludicrous.


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