BRITAIN: Radical Muslim cleric Abu Hamza, accused by the US of being a terrorist, was further remanded in custody in a short court appearance yesterday morning.
Mr Hamza, wearing a pale blue prison shirt, appeared via video link on a screen at Bow Street Magistrates' Court in central London as the attempts by the US to extradite him continued.
In a hearing lasting just a few minutes, Mr Hamza was further remanded in custody until another interim hearing on September 17th. A full extradition hearing is due to resume on October 19th.
Mr Hamza spoke only to confirm his name and date of birth as well as acknowledging the solicitors and court officials.
US President George Bush has named him as a global terrorist and officials have accused him of playing a key role in Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda terror network.
The cleric, who used to preach at the Finsbury Park Mosque in London, was arrested in May following the US request for extradition. He remains at London's high security Belmarsh, where yesterday's video link came from.
Mr Hamza, whose full name is given on the charge sheet as Mustasa Kamel Mustasa, faces 11 charges in the US.
They relate to incidents of hostage-taking in Yemen in 1998, in which three Britons died, trying to set up a terror training camp in Oregon and sending another individual to Afghanistan to fight the Taliban.
Meanwhile, it has emerged that Muslim inmates, including terror suspects, at a British jail have been refusing to eat meat after receiving a menu with pork.
The prison service acknowledged there had been a "mistake" in the labelling of food as Halal, or suitable for Muslims, at Belmarsh last month. It said the problem had been fixed and the prison governor had apologised to the Muslim prisoners.
"One menu contained pork chops," lawyer Ms Muddassar Arani told reporters yesterday. "It stipulated spicy pork chops as being Halal food for the prisoners. Anybody who knows even the slightest small thing about Islam knows that Muslims are not permitted to eat pork."
She went on to say that the inmates had lost faith in meals prepared for them and wanted their meat brought pre-packaged from outside.
Ms Arani's firm represents six of eight terrorism suspects charged last week with conspiracy to commit murder in a plot linked to alerts at US targets, as well as Abu Hamza al-Masri. -