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Britain
Captain Hook gets 9 more months in the UK
2004-04-27
ABU HAMZA, the radical Muslim cleric who has been linked to five Islamic terrorist groups, has secured the right to stay in Britain for another nine months - in spite of the government’s attempts to deport him. The Special Immigration Appeals Commission yesterday postponed the hearing until 10 January, 2005, after several problems, including Mr Hamza’s refusal to appear in court during the Muslim month of fasting in Ramadan.

The delay came as several new details emerged about Mr Hamza’s links to terrorist organisations in Britain and beyond, leading Muslim groups and MPs to unite in denouncing the delay in his hearing. Ian Burnett, QC, representing the Home Office, yesterday told a bomb-proof hearing room in London that the government can prove Mr Hamza offered "support and advice" to al-Qaeda before the terrorist attacks in the United States on 11 September 2001. There is also evidence linking the cleric to terrorist cells including the GIA in Algeria, the IAA in Yemen - where he is wanted on terrorist charges - and a Kashmiri terrorist group known as the HUA. But Mr Hamza was granted the nine-month extension after he refused to submit evidence in his defence and changed his solicitor. There has also been debate about whether he was entitled to up to £250,000 in legal aid.
I think the entire West is crazy...
Mr Hamza, who has been banned from preaching in the Finsbury Mosque, London, by the Charities Commission, was not in court because he has filed no relevant papers in the last 12 months. Mr Burnett expressed the disappointment of the government that the proceedings against Mr Hamza, which began in April last year, look set to go on for two years, and that officials could not act sooner.
Justice delayed is justice denied...
He added that the cleric has used the Finsbury Mosque as a "centre of extremism and a safe haven for Islamic terrorists, enabling them to develop the support and contacts necessary to further violent aims." The judge, Mr Justice Ouseley, also expressed dismay that Mr Hamza was entitled to such a long delay in his hearing. "For my part, I find it difficult to see why the timetable was not adhered to," he said. Fury over the nine-month delay was yesterday echoed by the Islamic Society of Britain (ISB), which said Mr Hamza’s presence in the country is harming the reputation of Britain’s Muslims throughout the country. "He should be removed just as other members of extremist factions," said Naeem Raza, a director of the ISB. "He deserves to be thrown out. It is disgusting that he is still here."
Even the turbans don't like him. C'mon, guys! What would Good Queen Bess do?
Naseem Mohammed, the chairman of the Birmingham Central Mosque, said: "Mr Hamza needs to be removed and 99.9 per cent of Muslims do not agree with what he says. He is simply a madman."
But still they keep him around...
SECRET tapes containing the rantings of Abu Hamza were revealed in the Daily Mail yesterday. They outline his twisted views on suicide bombings, the West’s war on terror and his thoughts on Tony Blair, the Prime Minister, and George Bush, the US president. On suicide bombings, he tells supporters: "You don’t have to travel thousands and thousands of miles to become a shaheed [martyr] - you can be a shaheed right on your own doorstep. May Allah open our eyes for what’s good for us - so we don’t waste our efforts and our Muslim blood far away."
If Sir Walter Raleigh could end up with a very short haircut, why can't Captain Hook?
And on the UK terror crackdown, he says: "These laws are now coming one after the other. And the main goal is to destruct Islam and Muslims from Islam because Islam now is what makes their life difficult." The tapes also repeat his views on 11 September: "Wherever you are, death will catch up with you - even if you are in high elevated towers. Where is their ‘Superman’? They only know how to fly through windows. Who is to blame? The American government and their pressure cooker policy which exploded in their faces." He later adds: "These scenes are going to repeat." On Osama Bin Laden, he says: "Sheikh Bin Laden is not a normal person. He is an example for all mujahideen with his past experience, goals and achievements." And he mocks Mr Blair and Mr Bush, saying on the tapes: "The people who are spreading terror all over the planet, the people who have sanctioned children, they are killing them for tens of years; the people who have killed millions of children."
Posted by:Dan Darling

#11  I appreciate humour and comic relief. I think I was grouchy because it was too a.m. This guy isn't so much the worry as the system's failure to deal with him appropriately in light of events like 9/11. My Uncle used to Maitre d' in Windows on the World. He's still alive tho'
Posted by: Howard UK   2004-04-27 3:43:56 PM  

#10  Howard UK -

I didn't mean to unnerve anyone, but to humorously ridicule the Australopithecae
that we are facing in the war on terror helps.

Before 9/11 I was a service person working on phone systems in various buildings in the Los Angeles area. My employer at the time had clients in the "707 Wilshire" building, which is the 2nd tallest building in LA after the so-called library tower. We recently found out the "Library Tower" was a cicada(my spelling) potential target. I was scheduled to do a service call in the "707 Wilshire Building" on 9/11 so some what-ifs are going thru my mind as well.
Posted by: Anonymous4052   2004-04-27 1:40:36 PM  

#9  What the hell is wrong with England? This crap wouldn't have flown when I was last there.
Posted by: mojo   2004-04-27 10:43:11 AM  

#8  We're fucked allright and the majority here know it.
Posted by: Howard UK   2004-04-27 10:23:55 AM  

#7  We're fucked allright and the majority here know it.
Posted by: Howard UK   2004-04-27 10:23:50 AM  

#6  It's hard to say which is more amazingly insane -- this story or the Finsbury Park Mosque re-opening story.

What part of the Izzoids' message is not understood by the UK functionaries in those positions of authority responsible for these two decisions?

My sincere sympathies to our UK colleagues - this is right out of Braveheart - (paraphrasing) "God tells me I'll be okay, but I think you're fucked."
Posted by: .com   2004-04-27 10:19:21 AM  

#5  The composition of the Special Immigration Appeals Commission ought to become a political issue in the UK. A nine-month delay now, after the previous ridiculous delays, indicates that the top apparatus is incompetent and indecisive.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester   2004-04-27 7:12:00 AM  

#4  Inflate large paper bag and approach stealthily from behind... snigger.
Posted by: Howard UK   2004-04-27 5:09:13 AM  

#3  I totally agree Howard , our government is incapable of fulfilling its duty of care . The flower children who write wishy washy liberal media are to blame for this mess ,and the fact that the government relies on their votes . My opinion is being politically correct is soooooo 90's ... Its time to take the bit between the teeth and move forward in this millenium and deal with this threat with an iron hammer . Dont deport the prick , kidnap him and keep him in a little hole in ground totally isolated whilst maybe occasionally droppng a bacon sandwich ( haha ) down there to keep him vaguely alive . Failing that , dont he look over weight and heart attack prone? ...........
Posted by: MacNails   2004-04-27 4:59:53 AM  

#2  A4052 - appreciate the great humour but living in London and catching the tube every day, and in light of Madrid, lines like this perturb me:

On suicide bombings, he tells supporters: "You don’t have to travel thousands and thousands of miles to become a shaheed [martyr] - you can be a shaheed right on your own doorstep.

Convenient flypaper for other Islamotwerps or not, he must be locked up. I think I'll move to the outer Hebrides while our government proves incapable of fulfillig its duty of care to the majority of its citizens.
Posted by: Howard UK   2004-04-27 4:38:57 AM  

#1  With apologies to Disney,

Outside the drinking, a guy with one eye and a hook can find a lot in common with this :

Yo Ho, Yo Ho! A pirate's life for me.

We pillage, we plunder, we rifle and loot.
Drink up me 'earties, Yo Ho!
We kidnap and ravage and don't give a hoot.
Drink up me 'earties, Yo Ho!

Yo Ho, Yo Ho! A pirate's life for me.

We extort, we pilfer, we filch and sack.
Drink up me 'earties, Yo Ho!
Maraud and embezzle and even hijack!!!

Drink up me 'earties, Yo Ho

Yo Ho, Yo Ho! A pirate's life for me.

Posted by: Anonymous4052   2004-04-27 2:02:41 AM  

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