Finsbury Park mosque leader arrested
Published by Warrior Tang May 27th, 2004 in World
Finsbury Park mosque leader Abu Hamza al Masri has been arrested
by UK police and indicted in the US on charges of trying to build
a terrorist training camp in Oregon (More). Given the quick timing of the two events, extradition is likely.
If there’s any doubt that this is one of the bad guys, note what he said
about the Columbia tragedy
(and
kept saying),
his
holding a pro-terrorism conference on the anniversary of
the September 11 attacks,
his running an organization dedicated to establishing Taliban-style Sharia in Britain,
and read some of the
links provided at the bottom of this post.
It’s been a wonder something like this hasn’t happened sooner. In any less tolerant country, he would be expelled, charged with treason, or disappeared by now.
Finsbury Park has been the target of
prior
raids,
but Britain
has never gotten anything to stick. Hamza is far from the only pro-terrorist activist in Britain
and he may not even be the most extreme, but his wounds make him a photogenic enemy and symbolic of Britain’s pro-terrorist movement.
For more information, see also
a recent Newsday article on Finsbury Park
activities,
a meaty report from
the Muslim-American Society,
a CNN biography of al Masri,
a MEMRI
biography of al Masri,
a BBC report on
the support for al-Qaeda and similar terrorist movements
in Britain, and
a similarly themed Guardian report.