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The European Court of Human Rights has ordered a halt to the extradition to the US on terror charges of radical cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri.
Abu Hamza, jailed in the UK for soliciting to murder and racial hatred, and three other British men complained about the length of sentence they may face if convicted in the US.
Their cases will be delayed for further submissions to the Strasbourg court.
BBC Link
What an irony - we didn't sentence this man and his colleagues properly (Hamza only faces 7 years in prison if he stays in the UK) and the US promises a far more appropriate sentence - however we are possibly sending a man to conditions described as "psychological torture" in the US.
Certainly I believe we should attempt to regain moral standing by investigating whether UK MI5 agents colluded in torture and Hamza should be extradited properly - but should we simply wash our hands and allow what are barbaric conditions or keep him here to see the madness of his release in less than 3-4 years?
Interesting view here in the Telegraph blogs.
Abu Hamza will not be extradited to the United States any time soon, thanks to the European Court of Human Rights and its postmodern and ironic understanding of the term “human rights”.
Hamza and another man, Babar Ahmad, will remain in the UK for the foreseeable future because the court wants more time to consider the extradition, amid fears they may face inhumane conditions in the States. Well, they’re not going to be given a ticker-tape parade, that’s for sure.
Abu Hamza is currently serving time in Belmarsh for inciting hatred, but he’s wanted in the US for alleged links with al-Qaeda terrorists who murdered 16 western tourists in Yemen in 1998.
He’s not going to the US, however, because as his lawyer, Muddassar Arani, told the Guardian:
The issue the court wants to decide is whether the conditions in the US prison are so draconian it amounts to inhumane conditions. It all hangs on ’supermax’ prisons.