After eight years of legal battles the UK has finally extradited five Islamists wanted in the US on terrorism charges, Jailan Halawi reports After exhausting all avenues of appeal five suspected Islamist militants were extradited to the US on 5 October to face trial on terrorism related charges. The men are Egyptian-born, 54-year-old radical Muslim cleric Mustafa Kamel Mustafa, aka ; 52-year-old Egyptian lawyer Adel Abdel-Meguid Abdel-Bari, Saudi national Khaled Al-Fawaz and British nationals Syed Tahla Ahsan and Babar Ahmed. Abu Hamza faces 11 charges. If proven guilty he could face a life sentence. A British citizen by virtue of marriage, Abu Hamza was born in Alexandria, Egypt, on 15 April 1958. His father was an army officer, his mother the headmistress of a primary school. After obtaining a degree in civil engineering Abu Hamza left for the UK in 1979. In the late 1980s he came into contact with mujahideen who had fought against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan, serving as their translator when they came to London for medical treatment. He soon joined them in Afghanistan where he lost his hands and one eye. In 1993 he returned to the UK for treatment only to leave two years later to support Bosnian Muslims during the worst of the atrocities committed during the break-up of the former Yugoslavia. He finally settled in the UK in 1997 and became the preacher of the Finsbury Park mosque in London. In 1999 Abu Hamza faced terror related charges after his eldest son, Mohamed, and step son Mohsen Ghalain were arrested in Yemen. They were imprisoned for three and seven years after being found guilty of involvement in a bombing campaign. The US first requested Abu Hamza's extradition in 2004. The UK government refused to comply with the American request, insisting that he must stand trial in Britain on charges of soliciting murder and stirring racial hatred in his sermons. He was charged with 15 separate offences and in February 2006 found guilty on 11 counts, for which he received a seven-year sentence. While Abu Hamza served his sentence his lawyers were busy appealing against the warrant for his extradition to the US. They exhausted all possible legal channels when the European Court of Human Rights rejected the appeal. Adel Abdel-Meguid Abdel-Bari, sentenced to death in absentia by an Egyptian military court for allegedly plotting to plant bombs in the central Cairo Khan Al-Khalili bazaar, left Egypt for the UK in 1990. He obtained political asylum in 1993 and set up the International Office for the Defence of the Egyptian People in London in 1997. Egypt had repeatedly requested that Abdel-Bari be returned but the UK authorities refused. Under EU laws defendants cannot be extradited to countries where they might face the death penalty. Abdel-Bari faces 284 charges in the US including conspiring to kill US nationals and attack US interests; conspiring to use weapons of mass destruction and a host of offences related to the 1998 bombings of the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. If found guilty he could face life in prison. Saudi national Khaled Al-Fawaz is believed to have had close ties with Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. Fawaz faces charges including conspiring to kill US citizens and attack US interests. British nationals Syed Tahla Ahsan and Babar Ahmed are both described as computer experts. They were first detained in 2004 and 2006 for operating a website supporting mujahideen in Afghanistan and Chechnya by securing money, recruits and equipment. Both men are charged with conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists and conspiring to kill persons in a foreign country. Ahmed also faces money laundering charges. The end of the extended appeals process against extradition was greeted with sighs of relief in the UK where there are now plans to fast track such cases to make sure delays of several years are not repeated. The UK has long been considered a safe haven by radical Islamists. Abu Hamza's extradition order is altering that perception. The London-based Islamic Observatory recently issued a statement demanding Cairo press for the repatriation of Abdel-Bari on the grounds that it would be impossible for him to see his family or receive a fair trial in the US. Other Islamists speaking to Al-Ahram Weekly on condition of anonymity criticise what they say is negligence on the part of the Egyptian authorities when it comes to looking after their nationals abroad. "I want to see Egyptian officials following up on the five men's trial and ensuring that their legal and human rights are guaranteed and that they face a fair, rather than a politically motivated, trial," said one source. Political analysts interviewed by the Weekly believe the extradition manifests nothing beyond the ultimate rule of law. The UK, said one, has a reputation for abiding by due legal process and it is ludicrous to suggest that in the case of Abu Hamza British judges had bowed to US pressure.
