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Radical Muslim cleric Abu Hamza may lose his British passport
London, Mar 30: Britain is preparing to strip the radical Muslim cleric Abu Hamza of his British passport for inciting racial and religious hatred.
London, Mar 30: Britain is preparing to strip the radical Muslim cleric Abu Hamza of his British passport for inciting racial and religious hatred.
Home Secretary David Blunkett, is expected to exercise tough legal powers which come into effect this week allowing him to revoke the British nationality of residents with dual citizenship if their actions are "seriously prejudicial to the vital interests of the United Kingdom".
Forty-four year old Hamza has a long history of vocal support for Islamic fundamentalism. He has a hook for a hand and only one eye -- the result, he says, of fighting the Soviet army in Afghanistan. He denies involvement in terrorism but is wanted on terror charges in Yemen.
The Egyptian-born cleric came to Britain in 1980 and was granted British citizenship after marrying an English woman.
Since then he is thought to have received more than 100,000 pounds in welfare benefits, including housing benefit. However, dependence on the British state has not stopped him
from preaching against the West.
Labour MPs and leading Muslims accuse him of inciting racial and religious hatred and of revelling in the deaths of innocent people. He was recently banned from the mosque for making inflammatory sermons. The mosque is temporarily closed after raid by Scotland Yard's anti-terrorism branch.
Hamza's sermons are always colourful and often offensive. He condemned the invasion of Iraq as a "war against Islam" and said the 9/11 attacks on America were a Jewish plot.
In January, he allegedly that the space shuttle Colombia was destroyed by God because it was carrying an American Christian, an Indian-born Hindu and an Israeli Jew.
Bureau Report
Labour MPs and leading Muslims accuse him of inciting racial and religious hatred and of revelling in the deaths of innocent people. He was recently banned from the mosque for making inflammatory sermons. The mosque is temporarily closed after raid by Scotland Yard's anti-terrorism branch.
Hamza's sermons are always colourful and often offensive. He condemned the invasion of Iraq as a "war against Islam" and said the 9/11 attacks on America were a Jewish plot.
In January, he allegedly that the space shuttle Colombia was destroyed by God because it was carrying an American Christian, an Indian-born Hindu and an Israeli Jew.
Bureau Report