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Abu Hamza tells court story of how he lost his hands and eye in explosion Abu Hamza tells court story of how he lost his hands and eye in explosion
(about 5 hours later)
The Islamist cleric Abu Hamza, extradited from Britain to the US to face terror charges, described to a New York jury on Thursday how he lost his hands and one of his eyes in an accidental explosion in Pakistan more than 20 years ago. The Islamist cleric Abu Hamza, who was extradited from Britain to the US to face terror charges, claimed on Thursday that he lost his hands and one of his eyes in an accidental explosion while working for the Pakistani army more than 20 years ago.
Testifying in his own defence, he also boasted of easily obtaining a British passport in a fake name for £25, before breaking down in tears at one stage, forcing the judge to pause the trial. During a rambling day of testimony, in which he wept, professed love for Osama bin Laden and claimed that the World Trade Center was brought down on 9/11 by a controlled demolition, Hamza gave a jury in New York a new account of how he suffered his notorious disabilities.
Hamza said that his notorious injuries, which led him to use a prosthetic hooked hand, had been inflicted when a liquid bomb-making experiment that he was carrying out as part of a project for the Pakistani army in 1993 went badly wrong. Hamza said the injuries that forced him to use a prosthetic hooked hand and a glass eye were inflicted when an experiment involving liquid explosives that he was carrying out in Lahore in 1993, as part of a mysterious roads project for the Pakistani military, went badly wrong.
The 55-year-old said that he was holding a bottle containing nitro-benzine, "cheap material" that had been shipped to the military villa in Lahore where he was experimenting. It was intended for use in a device involving a steel plate that was to be covered in earth and used on a road, he claimed. The 56-year-old said he was holding a bottle containing nitro-benzine, "cheap material" that was shipped to the military compound where he and some allies were working. It was intended for use in a device involving a steel plate that was to be covered in earth and used on a road, he claimed, without explaining in detail.
The device was detonated accidentally. "I see it getting hot, I went to throw it in the bathroom, but somebody was standing by the sink," Hamza said from the witness stand at the federal court in lower Manhattan. “I didn't know much time I had, I didn't know how dangerous it was. I just wanted to get rid of it. And it just went off." The device was detonated accidentally. "I see it getting hot, I went to throw it in the bathroom, but somebody was standing by the sink," Hamza said from the witness stand, at the federal court in lower Manhattan. “I didn't know how much time I had. I didn't know how dangerous it was. I just wanted to get rid of it. And it just went off.
"I was looking at it like this," he said of the device, leaning in with the left side of his face for effect. “That's why in this eye I can't see. This one survived." He said: "I just felt the explosion. I lost a lot of blood … After that I went into a coma. And when I went out in a coma I didn't know I had lost my arm." "I was looking at it like this," he said of the device, leaning in with the left side of his face. “That's why in this eye I can't see. This one survived." He said: "I just felt the explosion. I lost a lot of blood … After that I went into a coma. And when I went out in a coma I didn't know I had lost my arms."
The Egyptian-born preacher was known to have been in Afghanistan around that time assisting the Afghan mujaheddin with reconstructing the country following the withdrawal of Soviet forces. Conflicting accounts of how exactly Hamza suffered the injuries that led him to use a hook and other prosthetics proliferated in the years since he rose to prominence as the radical preacher who delivered extremist sermons to the Finsbury Park mosque in London, in the late 1990s.
However he said that he and a small group of allies had been carrying out controlled explosions in the Pakistani villa in the days before his accident. “I was surprised that the neighbours would not complain, why they did not call the police,” he said. Hamza told the court he was aware of the various theories. “Yes, of course," he said under questioning from his lawyer, Joshua Dratel. "Some people say I went to Saudi Arabia and they caught me stealing and they cut off my hands,” he added, prompting laughter in the public gallery. “All sorts of stories – the gossip never ends."
Conflicting accounts of how exactly Hamza suffered the injuries that led to his infamous use of a hook and other prosthetics have proliferated in the years since he rose to prominence as the radical head of the Finsbury Park mosque in London. The Egyptian-born preacher was known to have been in Afghanistan around that time assisting the Afghan mujaheddin with reconstructing the country, following the withdrawal of Soviet forces after war in the country. It was once claimed that he sustained his injuries on the battlefield. “I wish I had,” he said on Thursday. Reports later blamed an accident inside Afghanistan.
Hamza told the court he was aware of the various stories. “Yes, of course", he said under questioning from his lawyer, Joshua Dratel. "Some people say I went to Saudi Arabia and they caught me stealing and they cut off my hands. All sorts of stories – the gossip never ends." However, Hamza said on Thursday that it happened after he and a small group of colleagues had been carrying out controlled explosions between two villas on the compound in Lahore in the days beforhand. “I was surprised that the neighbours would not complain, why they did not call the police,” he said.
Indicted under the name Mustafa Kamel Mustafa, Hamza is charged with 11 criminal counts including setting up training camps in Bly, Oregon, 15 years ago, advocating jihad in Afghanistan and of securing satellite phone service for hostage takers in a kidnapping in Yemen in 1998 in which three Britons and an Australian were killed. He denies all the charges. Indicted under the name Mustafa Kamel Mustafa, Hamza is charged with 11 criminal counts including setting up training camps in Bly, Oregon, 15 years ago, advocating jihad in Afghanistan and of securing satellite phone service for hostage takers in a kidnapping in Yemen in 1998 in which three Britons and an Australian were killed. He denies all the charges and faces life in prison if convicted.
Hamza was known for making extremist sermons at the Finsbury Park mosque in London. On Wednesday his lawyer claimed he had been working with British intelligence services to help keep London safe by "cooling hotheads". Joshua Dratel held up what he claimed were official documents that showed he cooperated with MI5 in attempts to defuse tensions within the British Muslim community. On Wednesday, Dratel claimed in court that Hamza had been working with British intelligence services to help keep London safe by "cooling hotheads". The lawyer held up what he claimed were official documents that showed he cooperated with MI5 in attempts to defuse tensions within the British Muslim community.
Hamza was jailed in the UK in 2006 for inciting racial hatred and soliciting murder, and made similar claims at that trial. After six years in jail, he was extradited to the US, where he now faces much more serious charges.Hamza was jailed in the UK in 2006 for inciting racial hatred and soliciting murder, and made similar claims at that trial. After six years in jail, he was extradited to the US, where he now faces much more serious charges.
He told the Manhattan court that after treatment in a military hospital in Lahore, Hamza said he had returned to England, where he was given prosthetics. He has a glass eye in place of his left eyeball. Hamza was not permitted to wear his prosthetics in court for security reasons. He wore a blue T-shirt and dark trousers, and occasionally sipped from a cup of water held between his two stumps. He told the Manhattan court that after treatment in a military hospital in Lahore, he returned to England, where he was given the prosthetics. Hamza was not permitted to wear his hook in court for security reasons. He wore a blue T-shirt and dark trousers, and occasionally sipped from a cup of water held between his two stumps.
Hamza told the court on Thursday that after his return from Afghanistan, he travelled several times in 1994 to Bosnia, where he assisted Muslims during their persecution by Serbia. He said he had orchestrated the supplying of money, Land Rovers and other aid.Hamza told the court on Thursday that after his return from Afghanistan, he travelled several times in 1994 to Bosnia, where he assisted Muslims during their persecution by Serbia. He said he had orchestrated the supplying of money, Land Rovers and other aid.
He travelled under a false name disguised as an NGO worker delivering food aid, he said, claiming that entering at the time with genuine papers and for other purposes "for an Arab is a death sentence".He travelled under a false name disguised as an NGO worker delivering food aid, he said, claiming that entering at the time with genuine papers and for other purposes "for an Arab is a death sentence".
"It's very very simple," said Hamza. "You pay £25, you write an application saying 'I want to be John Travolta, and you are John Travolta.'" Asked amid laughter in the court if he had in fact used the name of the American actor, Hamza replied: "No, I was, I believe, Adam Ramsay Ayman." "It's very very simple," said Hamza. "You pay £25, you write an application saying 'I want to be John Travolta, and you are John Travolta.'" Asked amid more laughter in the court if he had in fact used the name of the American actor, Hamza replied: "No, I was, I believe, Adam Ramsay Ayman."
Hamza wept on the stand as he described the massacre of Muslims in the town of Srebrenica in July 1995. He criticised Dutch-led UN forces for turning civilians away from the gates of their compound and leaving them to advancing Serb forces. "They were not protected, and they were not allowed to go in," said Hamza. Hamza became tearful on the stand as he described the massacre of Muslims in the town of Srebrenica in July 1995. He criticised Dutch-led UN forces for turning civilians away from the gates of their compound and leaving them to advancing Serb forces. "They were not protected, and they were not allowed to go in," said Hamza. His voice cracked, and he began to cry and sniff loudly. Judge Katherine Forrest sent out the jury and called a short break.
His voice cracked, and he began to cry and sniff loudly. Judge Katherine Forrest sent out the jury and called a short break. Asked to describe London during the late 1990s, Hamza invoked the name “Londonistan” more often used by conservative critics of what was seen as tolerance by the authorities of radical Islamist residents. “You had a lot of refugees coming from all over the world, you had a lot of militancy,” he said. “The law would allow a lot, a lot of things in London.”
Pointing to the freedom of speech given to Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams and the IRA’s “killing of the Queen’s cousin”, Earl Mountbatten, who was in fact assassinated in 1979, Hamza said: “London was a very attractive place for any dissident or a person who has a fight with their regime, whether they are Muslim or non-Muslim”.
Hamza said his response to the terrorist attacks on the US on 11 September 2001 was to tell people in Britain that they “should think before they allow their politicians to drag them into a bloody war”. He denied having anything to do with a flyer for a seminar on the first anniversary of the attacks in which he participated that described them as “a towering day in history”.
However, he said that when the Finsbury Park mosque was raided by police and shuttered amid concerns about his teachings in the weeks before the war in Iraq, he was about to hold a forum for fellow engineers on the topic on how: “the collapse of the towers was caused by explosives."
Afterwards, he said, “I resumed preaching in the street for 15 months, right outside the mosque, regardless of the weather.” Some 25 police were forced to watch over his sermons. “It was for me punishing the government for closing the mosque,” said Hamza.
Hamza repeated past claims that plans for the Sandhurst military academy that were discovered when his house was raided by police in 2004 were there because he had worked on the facility as an engineer. He had never shared them with anyone, he said. “That is a trust." He also dismissed the relevance of a copy of the Encyclopedia of Afghan jihad, describing it as akin to a dictionary or reference book on tanks or other elements of war.
The preacher claimed he had been asked to join al-Qaida on its formation in 1989 but had disagreed with the terrorist group’s ideology. Asked who had later served as the representative in London of the group’s then leader, Osama bin Laden, Hamza said: “He is a very famous man - people loved him, including myself, but everybody would claim they were his representative."