Abu Hamza too ill to be extradited, his lawyers say

Published on 03/10/2012 02:18

Lawyers for Abu Hamza, who is wanted by the United States on terrorism charges, say his health is “deteriorating”.

They say medical tests could establish that the radical cleric is unfit to plead and should not be extradited to the US to face trial.

Hamza is one of a number of terrorist suspects who yesterday launched a last-ditch legal challenge at London’s High court to halt extradition after the European Court of Human Rights refused to intervene over their removal.

A QC for the Home Secretary is arguing that the challenges are abuses of process, as all the points could have been raised months or even years earlier and have no merit.

Sir John Thomas, president of the Queen’s Bench Division, and Mr Justice Ouseley are hearing the latest legal points over the next few days.

Yesterday, the first day of the hearing, Sir John expressed concern that the extradition battle – also involving terrorist suspects Babar Ahmad, Syed Ahsan, Khaled al-Fawwaz and Adel Abdul Bary – was threatening to “go on and on and on”.

He was told that Ahmad and Ahsan are mounting a fresh challenge to avoid extradition to the US..

Sir John said the new DPP challenge should be considered this afternoon.