He praised Bin Laden and to have maintained contacts with dangerous terrorists worldwide. Now the process is the terrorist hate preacher Abu Hamza, who lost an eye and his right hand, all in NYC.
For Passover, the New York police are particularly vigilant. The Jewish celebration week, which begins this Monday, awakens every year new fear of attacks, although there is no concrete evidence: “New York is always a goal,” warned John Miller, the anti-terrorism chief of the metropolis, “and it always will be. ”
This time, the safety precautions are even stricter than it already has . The occasion: The terror trial against the radical imam Abu Hamza , which begins before a U.S. District Court in Lower Manhattan.
The one-eyed hate preacher who wears a hook prosthesis instead of the right hand , must answer for a long list of accusations off this Monday . He is said to have been indirectly involved in a hostage-taking in Yemen and attacks in Afghanistan and dozens of terrorists have radicalized – including one of 9/11-Attentäter .
Once again, Manhattan district court turned into a fortress , even if the start of the process initially consists only of formalities , such as the selection of the jury.
But since there were pre- tensions : The prosecution wanted the jury namely can only occur for safety reasons, only anonymous. But Judge Katherine Forrest refused. Why the jury Hamza must now sitting opposite open – not far from the former World Trade Center , the destruction of the accused as a ” towering day in history” praised .
Clear that the local media are looking forward to juicy headlines : The tabloid ” New York Daily News calls” the 55 -year-old fundamentalists a “terrorist rock star ” .
Hand and eye lost the native Egyptians with a British passport in the eighties in Afghanistan under dubious circumstances . Since then, give him his metal hook and eye patch a striking appearance .
His radical views has Hamza – made in court on his birth name Mustafa Kamel Mustafa – never concealed . Especially in his sermons at a mosque in London’s Finsbury Park , he openly called for jihad against all ” infidels ” on .
Terrorist Abu Hamza Trial:Life imprisonment plus another 100 years
He also praised the former al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden and to have maintained contacts with dangerous militants. Including “shoe bomber” Richard Reid, who tried in December 2001, during an American Airlines flight from Paris to Miami to ignite an explosive device in his shoe.
2004 Hamza was arrested in Britain for inciting murder and racial hatred and sentenced in 2006 to seven years imprisonment. Parallel strained the U.S. on extradition proceedings, which for years agonized through the courts. It was only in October 2012 met Hamza in New York.
The 19-page U.S. indictment is almost unchanged since 2004. The prosecution sees Hamza as “terrorist supporters of global reach” and believes he can prove through some examples:
• In December 1998, Hamza had provided assistance to a terrorist group in Yemen in a hostage situation. The group kidnapped 16 tourists, including two Americans. In a rescue attempt by Yemeni military they used the prisoners as human shields. Four hostages were killed.
• Hamza had contacts with a terrorist camp in Afghanistan. He helped two U.S. militants unmolested to reach the end of 2000 Pakistan there, and have called on all his followers to donate “money, goods and services” for the Taliban.
• From late 1999 to early 2000 was Hamza was involved in plans to set up a “jihad training camp” in the U.S. state of Oregon and “material aid” in this way al-Qaeda and bin Laden.
If found guilty, he faces life imprisonment plus another 100 years. But first it must be about in room 15A of the Daniel Patrick Moynihan Courthouse kinds of spectacle.
So the prosecution Hamza want to use your own words against him and play excerpts of his hate speech in court. An offer to plead guilty, Hamza has knocked out. “Your honor,” he said to Judge Forrest, “I am innocent.”
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