UK: The radical Muslim cleric Abu Hamza was hailed as a martyr yesterday as the Home Secretary, Mr David Blunkett, explained his failure to prosecute him in the British courts.
The former imam of the controversial Finsbury Park mosque was being held in the high-security Belmarsh Prison in south-east London following his arrest on Thursday on an American extradition warrant listing 11 terrorism charges, some of which carry the death penalty.
While a protracted legal battle is certain, Mr Blunkett has confirmed that the British government will allow the extradition of the alleged "freelance consultant to terrorist groups worldwide" on the assurance that if convicted Mr Hamza would not face execution.
However, lawyers cast doubt on whether that agreement would hold once Mr Hamza was in American custody, while his supporters claimed political motivation behind Thursday morning's pre-dawn raid.
His furious supporters declared Britain and the US corrupt when they protested outside the North London mosque yesterday. And they vowed to march in protest next Friday to the American embassy, which they say they regard as the new seat of the British government.
Sheik Omar Bakri of the radical Muslim group al-Muhajiroun claimed media "lies and distortions" had made Mr Hamza "public enemy No 1".
Whereas the Americans had named him as "a terrorist facilitator with a global reach", Mr Bakri alleged: "It is a sign of the failure of the CIA to get any information about true members of al-Qaeda and the Taliban.
"It is the fault of the British government and British police who never found any evidence against Abu Hamza who was living on their own doorstep."
And despite their shared support for their "Muslim brother", Osama bin Laden, Mr Bakri maintained: "He (Hamza) believes that Muslims should be wherever they are good Muslims.
"He does not believe in using violence in the UK. He does not send people abroad," he said.
Mr Blunkett said Mr Hamza was being extradited on the basis of US evidence linking him to terrorist activities in Oregon, Afghanistan and possibly Yemen.
He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme yesterday: "Had we evidence in this country of a crime here then, of course, the police and the Attorney General would have taken action."