Radical preacher Abu Hamza faces life sentence

[EDITORS: SENTENCING DUE FRIDAY 9TH JAN]
Radical preacher Abu Hamza al-Masri is due to be sentenced in New York
for terrorism charges, marking the end of a decade-long legal battle.

Abu Hamza received much public attention for his controversial hate
preaching in the UK, and his eight-year fight to stop his extradition
to the United States.

But he's now likely to receive a life sentence for helping terrorists
kidnap tourists in Yemen in 1998.

As Nick Harper reports from New York.

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TAKE VO
It was Abu Hamza's anti-Western speeches at the North London Finsbury
Park mosque that gained him notoriety. But it was his terrorist
actions that led to his conviction.

Found guilty last May, Abu Hamza al-Masri is about to be jailed for
helping terrorists who kidnapped a group of 16 tourists in Yemen in
1998 and for planning to open a terror training camp in the U.S. state
of Oregon.

Three British tourists and an Australian died in that Yemeni
kidnapping. One of those who survived was New Zealander Mary Quin.

And it was her testimony at Abu Hamza's trial that perhaps sealed his fate.
Incredibly, after the kidnapping, Quin tracked down Abu Hamza to his
Finsbury Park mosque.

There, she got him to agree to speak to her, and allow her to record
their conversation - during which he admitted to his involvement. It
was that recording that became a key piece of the prosecution's case.

The interview surprised many for its candour and its self-incrimination.
But Professor of Psychology at Fordham University Harold Takooshian
thinks it simply shows a man who truly believed in the cause he was
subscribing to.

Takooshian - CLIP

TAKE VO
Abu Hamza's conviction was the second time last year that quick
terrorism verdicts were returned at a civilian court in Manhattan. A
March Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, Osama bin Laden's son-in-law and former al
Qaeda spokesman, was found guilty of conspiracy to kill Americans.

Some critics have argued that such cases should be heard in military
commissions, like those in Guantanamo.

Daphne Eviatar disagrees. She works as a lawyer on National Security
Issues and thinks justice can be better served in civilian courts.

Eviatar - CLIP

TAKE VO
Ahead of his sentencing Abu Hamza's lawyers have argued he's too
disabled for a high-security jail where they say he would face
"unconstitutional cruel and unusual punishment" on account of his
amputated forearms and missing eye.

They also recommended his sentence should be less than life.

Prosecutors though say a life term is the only possible sentence. They
highlight that Hamza "waged a global war of jihad against those he
considered infidels".
And its for those actions that they want him to be judged.

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