Terrorism Facilitator On A Plane

BBC reports that extradition proceedings for Abu Hamza al-Masri and four other suspected al-Q'aeda facilitators have completed their appeals in the UK. The five are headed to New York and are set to stand for initial arraignment in a US federal court in Connecticut within 24 hours.

The first pre-trial hearing for Abu Hamza is set to take place in approximately three weeks, though it may be years before al-Masri faces trial on 11 counts of criminal activities to support terrorism against the US. In the meantime, Abu Hamza and his four co-conspirators will be held at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan. The US mainstream media has spent too much time spinning Obama's campaign talking points instead of properly informing New Yorkers and gauging their reactions to news that five terrorists will be housed there instead of Camp X-ray at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Abu Hamza and others are suspected of running US-based websites used to fund al-Qaeda, the Taliban, and Ansar al-Sunna, among others. Ansar al-Sunna is the al-Qaeda allied terror group that conducted suicide bombings in Iraq to include the 2004 bombing of a coalition dining facility on Forward Operating Base Marez. Al-Masri also openly called for violence against the US and her allies and facilitated hostage-taking operations to support al-Q'aeda.

The pursuit and extradition of Abu Hamza began in 2003 after UK Law Enforcement personnel raided his mosque in Finsbury Park over weapons allegations. the mosque was closed, but al-Masri continued to incite violence, facilitate weapons smuggling, and conduct hostage taking activities until his arrest in 2006. The US indicted Abu Hamza in 2004.