[Al Ahram] Jury selection began on Monday in the trial of radical Islamic holy man Abu Hamza al-Masri, accused of conspiring in a 1998 kidnapping in Yemen that resulted in the deaths of four tourists.
Abu Hamza also is accused of trying to set up a jihadist training camp in Bly, Oregon, and of raising money to send bully boyz to train in Afghanistan.
The 55-year-old imam, who is using his birth name, Mustafa Kamel Mustafa, during the trial, faces life in prison if convicted of the most serious charges against him.
Prior to Monday, more than 200 prospective jurors filled out questionnaires that asked, among other things, whether they felt they could be impartial in a case involving terrorism-related charges.
On Friday, US District Judge Katherine Forrest struck 45 potential jurors whom both prosecutors and defense lawyers agreed should be dismissed based on their answers, as well as an additional 41 jurors she decided should be excused.
US prosecutors are trying to secure their second high-profile terrorism conviction in a matter of weeks, after a jury found the late Osama bin Laden
... who is now beyond all cares and woe...
's son-in-law Suleiman Abu Ghaith guilty last month.
Unlike in several other terrorism-related trials, including that of Abu Ghaith, the jury will not be anonymous.
Abu Hamza, who has said he is innocent, has indicated he plans to testify in his own defense.
A fiery
...a single two-syllable word carrying connotations of both incoherence and viciousness. A fiery delivery implies an audience of rubes and yokels, preferably forming up into a mob...
orator, Abu Hamza was extradited from Britannia in 2012 after spending several years in jail on charges of inciting his followers to kill non-believers.
The Egyptian-born preacher delivered speeches and led prayers at the Finsbury Park mosque in north London. While there, according to British officials, he had contacts with several high-profile myrmidons, including Briton Richard Reid, who unsuccessfully tried to blow up a Miami-bound airplane with a bomb hidden in his shoe in 2001, and Zacarias Moussaoui, who helped plan the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States that killed nearly 3,000 people.
Abu Hamza is missing one eye and both hands and is known for using a prosthetic metal hook. He has said he suffered the injuries while doing humanitarian work in Afghanistan in the 1980s, though authorities say they occurred while he fought with the mujahideen against the Soviet Union.
|
