British Imam Convicted in U.S. Court on Terrorism-Related Charges
A British imam was convicted in a U.S. court on terrorism-related charges linking him to al-Qaida and a fatal kidnapping plot.
Mustafa Kamel Mustafa, a former imam at London’s Finsbury Park mosque, was found guilty by a Manhattan jury on all 11 charges following a four-week trial. The jury found that Mustafa had been involved in a 1998 kidnapping in Yemen that left four people dead. He also was convicted of recruiting for al-Qaida and attempting to set up a terrorist training camp in Oregon.
The Muslim cleric is facing a sentence of up to life in prison.
His trial was held after he had served seven years in a British prison on separate charges of inciting racial hatred and soliciting murder, according to The New York Times. Mustafa was subsequently extradited to the United States to face the terrorism charges.
Mustafa, who is also known as Abu Hamza al-Masri, had denied any involvement in the kidnapping plot, in which 16 tourists were taken hostage. Four were subsequently killed when the abductors used them as human shields during a rescue raid.
Mustafa insisted that he had only acted as a spokesman for the kidnappers, but prosecutors charged that he had given a satellite phone to the lead kidnapper and exchanged phone calls with the kidnapper before and during the kidnapping.
Prosecutors also pointed to a recorded interview that Mustafa gave to one of the former hostages after she had been rescued.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we need 500 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Our Goal: 500 gifts during our Passover Pledge Drive!