 |
|
||
 |
|||
 |
 |
 |
   | 
| |||||||||||||||||||||
Jury hears cleric Hamza sermon
YOUR E-MAIL ALERTSLONDON, England -- A jury in London has seen a videotape showing Muslim cleric Abu Hamza al- Masri that prosecutors said was evidence of him urging his followers to kill non-believers and fight for a Muslim state. Hamza, on trial accused of preaching murder and stirring up racial hatred, was shown on the video, believed to have been made in late 1997 or early 1998, delivering a sermon at a table with a banner in front of him reading "Al Jihad." The former imam of Finsbury Park Mosque in north London, who denies all the charges, faces a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted. "Imagine you have only one small knife ... you have to stab him here and there until he bleeds to death, until he dies," Hamza said on the tape played for jurors at London's Central Criminal Court on Thursday. On the tape, he tells his audience that some elements of Western society must be considered legitimate targets of violence. "Every place of iniquity, every brothel ... for the victorious party is a target," he said. The cleric is also accused of keeping a terrorism "manual" containing a dedication to Osama bin Laden and suggested a list of potential targets including Big Ben. The 10-volume "encyclopedia" found at Hamza's home also advised hitting targets such as the Statue of Liberty or the Eiffel Tower to cause "destruction" and suggested attacks on museums or archaeological sites, prosecutors said on the first day of his trial on Wednesday. The various titles of the 10 volumes included "handguns," "explosives," "weapons," "dogfight and combat," and "tanks." It said plans "should be laid out" to hit buildings such skyscrapers, ports, airports, nuclear plants and football stadiums and it talked about attacking large congregations of people at Christmas. Egyptian-born Hamza, 47, from west London, faces nine charges under the Offences Against the Person Act 1861 alleging he solicited others at public meetings to murder Jews and other non-Muslims. He also faces four charges under the Public Order Act of 1986 of "using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behavior with the intention of stirring up racial hatred." Hamza also faces one charge of possessing threatening, abusive or insulting sound recordings, and another charge under anti-terrorism laws. Following his arrest Hamza did not answer questions, but instead gave a statement in which he claimed Islam was being placed on trial and that he had been the object of a witch hunt by the media and a hate campaign, the court was told. The cleric also denied hating Jews or Christians and said the encyclopedia had been given to him as a "gift" and that he had never read it. The trial continues. 
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||
 |
|
| © 2007 Cable News Network LP, LLLP. A Time Warner Company. All Rights Reserved. Terms under which this service is provided to you. Read our privacy guidelines. Contact us. Site Map. |
|
External sites open in new window; not endorsed by CNN.com
Pay service with live and archived video. 
