Hamza's Health

As the criminal 'Abu Hamza', as Hamza Al-Masri is generally known, makes one last attempt to avoid being extradited to USA, he is claiming poor mental health as a justification for remaining in the UK.

Hamza Al Masri - will he get off the hook this time?

There are several things to say about that.

Firstly, I don't think most of us want him.  It is better that he is in jail than wandering free stirring up hatred, but I think he could be better looked after in another country which knows haw to treat its criminals appropriately.

Secondly, what is new about his state of mind?  I would say it was a bit late to make such a claim.  Surely it has been clear for decades that he is borderline psychopathic.  That's why he is currently serving a 7 year jail sentence in UK.  So why would this claim get him off the hook this time?  (Did you spot what I did there?) 

Here is yet another example of an Islamist trying to claim rights of free speech and access to the rule of law purely in order to justify his own aims - namely to bring about a political system in which he can deny those very same rights to other people.

For too many years, the UK government has allowed him to play silly legal games, costing the UK tax payer millions and drumming up supporters who believe that he has been ill-treated.

In the spirit of fairness, equality and free speech, I would say that it is exactly the right time to let a suspected terrorist and kidnapper have a chance to demonstrate his innocence.  This time let's see him try it in another country, the other side of the Atlantic.

I think he will find it a little harder to play silly legal games with American law.

Of course the term Abu literally means father.  I don't like Christian leaders claiming to be my father, and I can't say I like it any better from Islamic 'clerics'. 

I'm glad my own father wasn't like any of them!