Abu Hamza Finally Extradited

Abu Hamza has finally been extradited from the UK to the USA along with four others. His extradition will come as a relief to Britons and Americans alike as the process has taken a shockingly long, eight years to complete. Hamza has long been a controversial person, calling for the death of Westerners and refusing to criticise Al-Qaeda when it killed 200 people during attacks on US embassies in Africa. Originally arrested in 2004 with 15 counts of terrorism, he was not convicted until 2006. In 2004 the Americans requested his extradition to face charges of setting up a terrorist training camp in Oregon and of kidnapping in Yemen. In May of 2007 attempts to extradite him were re-started but were once again placed on hold when his lawyers brought the case to the European Court of Human Rights. The court, facing a backlog of 80,000 – 90,000 cases, did not begin hearing the case until 2010. It was in April of this year that the court finally decided to allow his extradition, and two weeks ago his appeal failed. Today he is in the USA awaiting trial.

For many this case indicates that there is something severely wrong with the system of extradition in the UK, and in Europe as a whole. Many believe that the UK should simply ignore what the European courts say and go along with what British courts say alone. I think things could be improved if there were more staff in the European Court, the backlog is absolutely gargantuan and is only set to increase; this is not a sustainable situation. Whatever the decision is regarding the broken system, we can all be happy that Hamza is finally facing American justice.

The radical cleric, Abu Hamza speaking to the press,