Home »General News » World » British police arrest Hamza al-Masri

Radical cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri, already detained in London on an extradition request from the United States, was arrested Thursday under Britain's main anti-terrorist law, police said.

Hamza, 47, was arrested under the Terrorism Act 2000 "under suspicion of being involved in the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism", the Metropolitan Police said in a statement.

"He has been taken into custody to a central London police station where officers from the anti-terrorist branch will interview him," they said, adding that the arrest had been made as part of a "domestic investigation".

The Egyptian-born cleric, who gained notoriety for his fiery sermons at north London's Finsbury Park mosque, has been behind bars at the high-security Belmarsh prison in south-east London since May.

He was arrested at that time on suspicion of carrying out a key role in Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network and detained at Belmarsh.

The hook-handed cleric faces extradition to the United States on 11 terrorism-related charges, notably over a hostage-taking in Yemen in 1998 and an alleged al Qaeda training camp operating in Oregon in 1999-2000.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2004


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