Radical Islamic cleric Abu Hamza and two other terror suspects extradited from Britain have arrived in the United States, U.S. media reported on Sunday, citing unnamed U.S. officials.
Syed Tahla Ahsan and Babar Ahmad were scheduled to appear at 8:00 am before U.S. District Judge Janet Hall, U.S. District Attorney David Fein announced.
Abu Hamza failed on Friday in a last-ditch legal attempt to avoid extradition from Britain to the United States, where he faces terrorism charges.
Judges at the High Court in London dismissed his request for more medical tests that his lawyers said would prove he was unfit to be extradited, clearing the way for a handover.
The decision caps a long legal battle, which saw the cleric launch a fresh appeal in Britain last week after the European Court of Human Rights rejected his earlier bid to avoid being sent to the United States.
Abu Hamza has been indicted in the United States on charges including setting up an al-Qaeda-style training camp for militants in the state of Oregon and involvement in the taking of 16 hostages in Yemen in 1998.
He is expected to appear before a judge in New Haven, Connecticut, later Saturday.
Abu Hamza rose to prominence in the 1990s when he gave fiery sermons at the Finsbury Park mosque in north London, but has been in prison in Britain for eight years after being convicted of inciting hatred.
Ahmad and Ahsan, both British nationals who are described as computer experts, are accused of operating websites supporting Chechen and Afghan insurgents.
The other suspects are Khaled Al-Fawwaz and Adel Abdul Bary.
Fawwaz and Bary were both indicted by the U.S. for alleged involvement in the bombing of two U.S. embassies in east Africa in 1998 which killed hundreds. They also allegedly ran al-Qaeda’s media office in London in the 1990s.
In related news, the British government will try to speed up the extradition process after an eight-year legal battle to send radical preacher Abu Hamza to the United States, Prime Minister David Cameron said Saturday.
“I’m absolutely delighted that Abu Hamza is now out of this country,” Cameron said.
“Like the rest of the public I’m sick to the back teeth of people who come here, threaten our country, who stay at vast expense to the taxpayer and we can’t get rid of them.”
The United States first requested Abu Hamza’s extradition in 2004 and it was approved in 2008 but the case then spent another four years in the European Court of Human Rights.
Cameron said the British government must “learn every lesson” from the saga.
“How do we stop these people coming in? How do we get rid of them more quickly? How do we make sure they don’t spend so long at taxpayers’ expense?” Cameron said.
Home Secretary Theresa May echoed his comments.
“It is right to look at the process. It is frustrating, I think everybody is frustrated at how long it has taken to extradite these particular individuals,” she told BBC Radio.
“We will look very carefully at the comments that have been made by the Lord Chief Justice and look seriously at this whole process and whether there are too many stages in these processes.
“I think we do need to make some changes.”