Radical UK Cleric 'Urged Killing of Non-Believers'

Radical Muslim cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri was charged by British police Tuesday with 16 offences including encouraging the murder of non-believers, meaning a U.S. attempt to extradite him has been put on hold.

Abu Hamza, who lost an eye and both hands in Afghanistan fighting Soviet forces, is wanted by the United States over 11 alleged offences and a five-day extradition hearing had been due to start Tuesday.

The British case, however, takes precedence and tight UK legal restrictions mean details of the U.S. charges could not be given.

The cleric, a former nightclub security guard who has preached in support of Osama bin Laden and the Sept. 11 attacks, faces 10 charges of using public meetings to incite his followers to kill non-Muslims.

Four of the charges say he urged the killing of Jews.

He is also accused of using threatening, abusive or insulting behavior with intent to stir up racial hatred, one charge of possessing threatening, abusive or insulting sound recordings and one charge of possessing a "terrorist" document.

Abu Hamza was already in a top security British jail after being arrested in May on a U.S. extradition warrant.

But in August, Britain launched a probe to see whether it could mount its own case against him.

Appearing at London's top-security Belmarsh Magistrates Court Tuesday, Egyptian-born Abu Hamza, who appeared flanked by four police officers and without his steel hook on his right arm, nodded when asked to confirm his name.

He was remanded in custody until a hearing at London's Old Bailey court on October 26.

The charges against Abu Hamza in Britain have set the stage for one of the country's highest-profile cases since the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.

He was stripped of his British citizenship last year and he was banned from speaking at his Finsbury Park mosque in north London although he continued to preach in the road outside until his arrest.

Last year, Jamaican-born Muslim cleric Sheikh Abdullah el-Faisal, a former supporter of bin Laden, was jailed for seven years in Britain for urging his followers to kill non-believers in what he called a holy war.