Radical Islamist preacher Abu Hamza's health has deteriorated, the High Court in London heard on Tuesday, as he made a last-ditch legal bid to halt his extradition from Britain to the United States. The Egyptian-born cleric with a hook for a hand, and four other men were set to be sent to the United States after Europe's top rights court gave its green light last week, but are seeking to block their removal.
To avoid extradition to a US high-security prison, Hamza and fellow terror suspects Khaled Al-Fawwaz, Syed Tahla Ahsan, Adel Abdul Bary and Babar Ahmad must prove there are "new and compelling" reasons not to send them. Two senior judges hearing the case were told in papers lodged with the court that Hamza is seeking a temporary injunction pending a request for an MRI scan to be carried out due to his "deteriorating health".
Alun Jones, a lawyer for 54-year-old Hamza, argues that there is "uncontradicted medical opinion that a scan is medically necessary". "If the applicant (Hamza) is unfit to plead, or arguably so, it will be argued that it would be oppressive to extradite him." The lawyer said a judge referred to Hamza's "very poor health" at an extradition hearing in 2008.
Hamza, the former imam of the Finsbury Park mosque in north London, is wanted in the United States on charges including setting up an al Qaeda-style training camp for militants in the north-western US state of Oregon. He has also been charged with criminal conduct related to the taking of 16 hostages in Yemen in 1998 and with advocating violent jihad in Afghanistan in 2001. Hamza and the four other suspects are already in jail in Britain and were not in court in person to hear the pleas.