Abu Hamza's Trail Begins...

[sonz]

Muslim cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri was found in possession of a "manual for terrorism", prosecutors told the jury as his trial began at the Old Bailey.

David Perry said the Encyclopaedia of Afghani Jihad explained how to make explosives and run a terrorist unit.

Mr Abu Hamza faces 15 charges including possessing a document "useful" to a terrorist and soliciting people to murder Jews and other non-Muslims. The 47-year-old from west London denies all 15 charges he faces.

His trial began with the judge warning the seven men and five women of the jury to ignore what they may have read or heard about Mr Abu Hamza in the media.

"This man is someone who has been the object of a fair amount of press coverage - much of it critical," said Mr Justice Hughes.
"You are not interested in what anyone has accurately or inaccurately said about him in the past."

He also warned them not to look for material on the internet and to concentrate only on the evidence they heard in court.
Mr Perry opened the case for the prosecution by saying that Mr Abu Hamza had several aliases but that there was nothing sinister or improper about that.

'Preaching intolerance'

The court heard that Mr Abu Hamza was born in Egypt in 1958 but that he had lived in this country for a number of years and was now a British citizen who had preached at Finsbury Park Mosque [North London Central Mosque in Finsbury Park].

"You would think he would be preaching tolerance, mutual co-existence and responsibility regardless of religion or creed," Mr Perry said.

"In fact he preached the opposite - intolerance, bigotry and hatred, in particular against Jews as a racial group and as a religious body."
Mr Abu Hamza had also said Jews controlled the West and should be removed from the earth, Mr Perry said.

"This aspect of his teaching also represents the offences of inciting racial hatred.

"But what he said did not stop with hate-mongering but he was exalting his listeners to kill," Mr Perry added.

Mr Abu Hamza faces charges alleged to have been committed before May 2004 when he was imam at the North London Central Mosque, in Finsbury Park.

Nine charges have been brought under the Offences Against the Person Act, alleging he solicited others at public meetings to murder Jews and other non-Muslims.

Four charges, brought under the Public Order Act, claim he used "threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour with the intention of stirring up racial hatred".

Another charge alleges possession of video and audio recordings, which he intended to distribute to stir up racial hatred. A charge under section 58 of the Terrorism Act accuses him of possessing the Encyclopaedia of the Afghani Jihad, which contained information "of a kind likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism".

[Muezzin]

I hope they lock up the nutty bigot.

Then they should go after the BNP leaders too.