A Muslim leader in the United Kingdom, Abu Hamza Al-Masri, was charged in a British court yesterday with a variety of crimes, including 10 counts of soliciting murder, specifically, of Jews and other non-Muslims, as well as racist incitement and terrorism-related offenses.
The high-profile, self-styled sheikh was the imam at the London-area Finsbury Park mosque. The mosque was attended by Zaccarias Moussawi, the infamous "twentieth hijacker" of 9/11, and by the failed "shoe bomber," Muslim convert Richard Reid, as well as by three terrorists involved in the Beslan school massacre. In addition to the charges he faces in the UK, Abu Hamza Al-Masri is also wanted in the United States and Yemen. In the latter country, he has been convicted in absentia for involvement in several bombings that killed three people and a kidnapping that left four hostages dead.
Born in Alexandria, Egypt, the 47-year-old Abu Hamza has also been involved in Islamic terrorism and jihad in Bosnia and Afghanistan. In Bosnia, he commanded a unit of foreign fighters who came to fight jihad against the Christian Serbs. In Afghanistan, he lost his hands in a mine explosion while combating the Soviet incursion there.
The high-profile, self-styled sheikh was the imam at the London-area Finsbury Park mosque. The mosque was attended by Zaccarias Moussawi, the infamous "twentieth hijacker" of 9/11, and by the failed "shoe bomber," Muslim convert Richard Reid, as well as by three terrorists involved in the Beslan school massacre. In addition to the charges he faces in the UK, Abu Hamza Al-Masri is also wanted in the United States and Yemen. In the latter country, he has been convicted in absentia for involvement in several bombings that killed three people and a kidnapping that left four hostages dead.
Born in Alexandria, Egypt, the 47-year-old Abu Hamza has also been involved in Islamic terrorism and jihad in Bosnia and Afghanistan. In Bosnia, he commanded a unit of foreign fighters who came to fight jihad against the Christian Serbs. In Afghanistan, he lost his hands in a mine explosion while combating the Soviet incursion there.