Shiraz Maher

Should British citizens expect British justice?

The High Court yesterday issued a final ruling on the extradition of Abu Hamza and four other men saying they will be handed over to American authorities to stand trial on terrorism charges. It’s unusual for the courts to lump different cases together like this, and that’s one of the things supporters of Babar Ahmad and Syed Talha Ahsan are particularly upset about.

Abu Hamza’s case is relatively straightforward. He will be tried on 11 charges, including the charge that he tried to create a terrorist training camp in the United States.

Two of the other men, Khaled al-Fawwaz and Adel Abdul Bary, are accused of being linked to Osama bin Laden and were indicted in relation to the 1998 twin embassy bombings in East Africa. This case is entirely unconnected to Abu Hamza.

In another entirely separate case, Babar Ahmad and Syed Talha Ahsan, are accused of running an extremist website through which they provided material support to terrorists.

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