The United States is seeking the extradition of the cleric to face 11 terrorism charges, including complicity in the December 1998 kidnapping of 16 Westerners in Yemen as well as setting up a terrorist training camp in Oregon and helping Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network.

Al-Masri is one of Britain's best-known Islamic radicals. The government has faced calls for years to throw al-Masri -- a British citizen since 1981 -- out of the country for his anti-Western sermons at North London's Finsbury Park Mosque, which included expressing pleasure at the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States.

(Figure of hate on Page 5)

The Japan Times Weekly: June 5, 2004
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