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Abu Hamza's health has deteriorated, High Court hears | |
(about 9 hours later) | |
Terror suspect Abu Hamza al-Masri's health has deteriorated, perhaps because of his detention in "an unrelentingly harsh environment", his lawyer has told the High Court. | |
Abu Hamza has asked the court to grant a temporary injunction against his extradition to the US for trial. | |
His lawyer said the "uncontradicted medical opinion" was that a scan was "medically necessary". | |
The Home Office has said it wants to deport him "as quickly as possible". | |
Abu Hamza is one of six terror suspects held in the UK who are wanted in the US. The former preacher at Finsbury Park Mosque in London is accused of planning a terror training camp in the US and assisting hostage-taking in Yemen. | |
But to avoid extradition, he, Babar Ahmad, Syed Talha Ahsan, Adel Abdul Bary and Khaled al-Fawwaz must show there are "new and compelling" reasons not to send them. | |
Documents before the court said it would be "oppressive" to send Abu Hamza to the US for trial. | |
Alun Jones QC asked the court for a temporary injunction blocking Abu Hamza's removal until the MRI scan has been competed. | |
He said a judge referred to Abu Hamza's "very poor health" at an extradition hearing in 2008. | |
"Over four years later, it appears there has been, or may have been, a further deterioration, perhaps attributable to sleep deprivation and the continued confinement of the appellant in an unrelentingly harsh environment." | |
Abu Hamza was arrested at the request of the US in May 2004 - but the extradition was halted when the UK decided to try him on allegations relating to his sermons. He was convicted in 2006. | |
In 2008, his appeal against extradition went to the European Court. In April 2012 the European Court of Human Rights ruled that his extradition was lawful, and his appeal against that ruling was rejected in September. | |
A two-day hearing to consider their appeals against extradition began in London on Tuesday before Sir John Thomas, President of the Queen's Bench Division, and Mr Justice Ouseley. | |
Adel Abdul Bary and Khaled al-Fawwaz are accused of being aides to Osama bin Laden in London. | Adel Abdul Bary and Khaled al-Fawwaz are accused of being aides to Osama bin Laden in London. |
As al-Fawwaz was arrested in 1998 and the case has been running for 14 years, his lawyer Ed Fitzgerald said. | |
He told the High Court that extradition would expose him to a "real risk of indefinite confinement." | |
He also said there was new evidence casting doubt on the need for extradition. A diplomatic cable considering a "de-listing of Mr Fawwaz" from a UN "terror list" existed, he added. | |
Between 1999 and 2006, the men were indicted on various terrorism charges in the US, with al-Fawwaz accused of involvement in, or support for, the bombing of US embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, in 1998. | |
Mr Fitzgerald said al-Fawwaz publicly disassociated himself from Bin Laden after the al-Qaeda leader issued a fatwa against Americans in 1996. | |
South London computer expert Babar Ahmad has been held in a UK prison without trial for eight years after being accused of raising funds for terrorism with his co-accused, Syed Ahsan. | |
Haroon Aswat, Abu Hamza's co-accused, was allegedly involved in the plot to establish a training camp in Oregon. He was arrested in August 2005. | |
The European Court of Human Rights has "adjourned its examination" of Haroon Aswat's claim because it requires further details about his mental health problems. |