Radical cleric Abu Hamza weeps in court after telling of his love for Osama Bin Laden

 
On trial: Abu Hamza denies the 11 charges he faces
Robin de Peyer9 May 2014
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Radical preacher Abu Hamza lost his hands in an accident involving liquid explosive in Pakistan, a court heard.

The extremist cleric, who was deported to the US after giving inflammatory sermons in north London, wept in court after telling of his love of terrorist mastermind Osama Bin Laden.

Hamza, 56, laughed off rumours he had his hand chopped off in Saudi Arabia for stealing.

Instead, the hook-handed cleric revealed a liquid explosive went off as he was handling it in 1993 when he worked as a civil engineer during testing being carried out by the Pakistani military in Lahore.

He also lost an eye in the blast, which he was at first suspected of having ignited intentionally.

Hamza, who is on trial under the name Mustafa Kamel Mustafa, is on trial in New York having been extradited from the UK two years ago.

He has previously been jailed in the UK for his radical, hate-filled sermons at Finsbury Park Mosque in north London.

He cried during the trial as he discussed the 1995 massacre of thousands of Muslim men and boys in Bosnia.

Trial: Abu Hamza al-Masri pictured leading prayers outside North London Central Mosque in Finsbury Park in 2004 (Picture: Reuters/Matt Dunham)

Hamza's lawyer, Joshua Dratel, questioned him about a wide range of subjects, including Osama bin Laden. Hamza said bin Laden was "a very charismatic man. People love him, including myself."

But he was critical at times of al Qaida. He described how in 1987 he met Abdullah Azzam, a spiritual mentor of bin Laden who fought the Soviets in Afghanistan and was killed in a car bombing in 1989.

Hamza said: "He was seeing the bigger picture, certainly bigger than al Qaida today."

He drew laughs in court as he described changing the name on his passport when he travelled to Bosnia in the mid-1990s.

"You pay £25 and say 'I want to be John Travolta, and you are John Travolta."' he said.

When the judge asked if he became John Travolta, he answered: "No ma'am," causing more laughs.

Additional reporting by agencies.

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