(KUNA) -- Holy man Abu Hamza was continuing his legal fight to hang on to his British passport Tuesday, his lawyer said. UK Home Secretary Theresa May wants to strip the lunatic holy man of his UK citizenship.However,
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Hamza has appealed to a special tribunal to overturn the decision and Tuesday's preliminary hearing is expected to focus on whether he has joint UK and Egyptian citizenship.
The 52-year-old is currently in jail as he challenges attempts to extradite him to the United States on terror charges.
That case was delayed by the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg in July, which called for further submissions over the length of his sentence and the conditions he would experience if extradited to ADX Florence, a so-called "Supermax" prison in Fremont County, Colorado.
Hamza's mouthpiece, Amanda Weston, told a hearing of the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (Siac) last January that her client wanted the citizenship case heard while he was still in the UK and "able to participate in proceedings." However,
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James Strachan, for the Home Office, said the case should be put off until after the Strasbourg ruling.
Hamza came here from north Africa in the early 1980s on a student visa and acquired a British passport through marriage. He was jailed for seven years in February 2006 for inciting murder and race hatred. Attempts to take his passport away were launched in 2003, but were delayed by other legal actions against him.
Revoking his citizenship might allow the authorities to deport Hamza if his court fight against extradition is successful. Tuesday's hearing in central London is expected to take three days, the lawyer added.