David Cameron 'absolutely delighted' that Abu Hamza is out of Britain

 
p8 Race hate cleric Abu Hamza, who is fighting an extradition bid to the U.S. The High Court is ruling today on a bid by radical Muslim cleric Abu Hamza to avoid extradition to the US where he faces terror charges. Egyptian-born Hamza, 49, from west London, who is fitted with hooks on both partially-amputated arms, is currently serving a seven-year jail term for inciting followers to murder non-believers.
PA
6 October 2012

Prime Minister David Cameron has expressed his joy after radical cleric Abu Hamza was extradited to the United States to face terror charges.

Hamza arrived in the US today, along with four other suspects. Officials from the US Attorney's office in New York would not officially confirm the arrival of Hamza, but he is expected to face a judge in New York within 24 hours.

Hamza is wanted in the US on charges that include conspiring with Seattle men to set up a terrorist training camp in Oregon and helping abduct 16 hostages, two of them American tourists, in Yemen in 1998.

He has been in a British jail since 2004 on separate charges of inciting racial hatred and encouraging followers to kill non-Muslims.

"I'm absolutely delighted that Abu Hamza is now out of this country," the Prime Minister said today. "Like the rest of the public I'm sick to the back teeth of people who come here, threaten our country, who stay at vast expense to the taxpayer and we can't get rid of them.

"I'm delighted on this occasion we've managed to send this person off to a country where he will face justice."

Mr Cameron said the Government must consider ways of stopping similar cases reoccurring.

"Now we should learn every lesson," he said. "How do we stop these people coming in? How do we get rid of them more quickly? How do we make sure they don't spend so long at taxpayers' expense?

"I'm as frustrated as the rest of the country when these things happen. I'm delighted that this man at least is on an airplane and on his way to face justice."

Khaled al-Fawwaz and Adel Abdul Bary, who were reportedly on the same flight as Hamza to New York, were indicted with others, including Osama bin Laden, for their alleged roles in the bombings of two US embassies in east Africa in 1998.

Al-Fawwaz faces more than 269 counts of murder.

The US Attorney's office in Connecticut confirmed that Babar Ahmad and Syed Talha Ahsan are scheduled to be in US District Court in New Haven early today.

The pair face charges in Connecticut relating to websites that allegedly sought to raise money, recruit fighters and seek equipment for terrorists in Afghanistan and Chechnya.

"I am pleased the decision of the court meant that these men, who used every available opportunity to frustrate and delay the extradition process over many years, could finally be removed," Home Secretary Theresa May said.

"This government has co-operated fully with the courts and pressed at every stage to ensure this happened.

"We have worked tirelessly, alongside the US authorities, the police and the prison service, to put plans in place so that these men could be handed over within hours of the court's decision. It is right that these men, who are all accused of very serious offences, will finally face justice."

The suspects had made last-ditch challenges against removal from the UK which were rejected by two High Court judges in London on Friday.

The five terror suspects were transported from HMP Long Lartin in Worcestershire to RAF Mildenhall in Suffolk in a police convoy which arrived at the base at about 10pm.

Officers from the Metropolitan Police's extradition unit handed the men over to US officials before they were taken aboard two planes which left British soil just before midnight, Scotland Yard said.

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