May 28, 2004

Is buffoonery a terrorist offence?

James of Dead men left made an interesting comment on the post below this one. He suggests that Abu Hamza's outspokenness makes him an unlikely terrorist. I would agree that his controversy-courting brand of extremist buffoonery means that you wouldn't want to associate with him if you were up to some serious illegality. But this isn't the only point. Why should the UK be extraditing someone to the USA over alleged offences connected with Yemen? If his alleged offences aren't offences here then how can we extradite him? If they are offences here then why should we extradite him? Ok he is also alleged to have set up terrorist training camps in Oregon though this looks like an after thought, and how do you tell an ordinary household from a terrorist training camp in a country with a deep seated gun culture? Anyway, the other problem is the fact that America has the death penalty and has even tricked foreign defendants into receiving it. How do we know that they will honour any assurances they might offer regarding sentencing policy?

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