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| Radical cleric Abu Hamza jailed for life by US court | Radical cleric Abu Hamza jailed for life by US court |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Radical Muslim cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri has been sentenced to life in prison by a court in New York for supporting terrorism. | Radical Muslim cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri has been sentenced to life in prison by a court in New York for supporting terrorism. |
| He was convicted in May of multiple charges, including hostage-taking and plotting to set up a terrorism training camp in the US. | He was convicted in May of multiple charges, including hostage-taking and plotting to set up a terrorism training camp in the US. |
| His trial followed a lengthy extradition process from the UK. | His trial followed a lengthy extradition process from the UK. |
| During the sentencing, his lawyers asked the judge to take into account his missing hands and eye. | During the sentencing, his lawyers asked the judge to take into account his missing hands and eye. |
| They also argued a plan to imprison Abu Hamza in Colorado's Supermax federal prison would violate assurances the US made to judges in London to secure his 2012 extradition. | They also argued a plan to imprison Abu Hamza in Colorado's Supermax federal prison would violate assurances the US made to judges in London to secure his 2012 extradition. |
| Prosecutors argued on Friday that the US government had never made such a promise to the UK and life in prison was the only appropriate sentence. | |
| Judge Katherine Forrest called Abu Hamza's actions "barbaric" and "misguided" and said she was sentencing him to life because she could not think of a time when it would be safe to release him. | |
| She added she would leave where he would spend his imprisonment up to federal prison officials. | |
| The US justice department hailed the sentence. | |
| "Abu Hamza is an unrepentant all-purpose terrorist," Assistant Attorney General for National Security John Carlin said in a statement. | |
| "With today's sentence, he is being held accountable for the many ways in which he supported terrorism and other terrorists through much of his life. | |
| The cleric, who was born Mustafa Kamel Mustafa, was convicted last May in New York on 11 counts, including involvement in a plot to take Western tourists hostages in Yemen in 1998. | |
| Colorado's Supermax prison | |
| Just how bad are American 'supermax' prisons? | |
| Three Britons and an Australian died when the Yemeni army launched a rescue bid. | |
| Laurence Whitehouse, from Hampshire, UK, escaped but his wife Margaret was killed. | |
| "There has been a gross injustice in the length of time taken in bringing these matters to a conclusion." Mr Whitehouse said. | |
| "It's frustrating and annoying that the British authorities didn't try him at least on the evidence that they had" on the hostage-taking. | |
| Prosecutors say Abu Hamza supplied the ringleader with a satellite phone. | |
| Another family member of a victim was frustrated the legal proceedings had taken so long. | |
| "My understanding is that British police possessed all the evidence that resulted in the decision announced today in the US," Donald Main, whose niece, Ruth Williamson, was killed. | |
| "I have never understood why this judgement could not have been made many years ago by a UK court, thus avoiding the long very costly legal battles seeking to avoid extradition to the US." | |
| In a statement, the Crown Prosecution Service said it had considered evidence related to the Yemen plot on "two separate occasions" but there said there was "simply insufficient evidence to allow a prosecution of those offences at the time" | |
| Abu Hamza was also convicted of helping to set up a terrorist training camp in the US state of Oregon. | |
| His trial followed his extradition to the US in 2012 at the end of an eight-year legal battle. | |
| During his trial Abu Hamza was described as a "terrorist facilitator with a global reach". | |
| He had used his powerbase at the Finsbury Park Mosque in north London to encourage his followers to train and fight in the cause of jihad. | |
| The Metropolitan Police initially raided the mosque in 2003 but Abu Hamza escaped arrest, continuing to preach in the street outside. |