Abu Hamza jailed for life in US for terror offences

Home Secretary Theresa May has said she is pleased Abu Hamza has finally faced justice and will spend the rest of his life behind bars "where he belongs".

She added: "His conviction was facilitated by this Government's tireless work to successfully remove him from the UK to face trial."

Jailed preacher Abu Hamza said "everybody was happy when the planes hit the World Trade Center", in tapes played in his US terror trial.

Hamza, who was tried under the name Mustafa Kamel Mustafa, later spread violent messages following the attacks of September 11 2001.

His lawyers had asked for him to be given a lesser sentence at a prison medical centre due to his amputations and high blood pressure.

But New York district judge Katherine Forrest today jailed him for life after a jury convicted him of 11 terror offences.

Read more: Abu Hamza jailed for life in US for terror offences

Abu Hamza has been jailed for life in America after being found guilty of 11 terror offences.

The hook-handed cleric, who only has one eye, was convicted of supporting terror organisations including the taking of Western hostages in Yemen, four of which were killed.

He was also found guilty of sending two followers to Oregon to establish a militant training camp and dispatching an associate to Afghanistan to aid al Qaida and the Taliban against the US.

Hamza, 56, was said to have run a "global campaign of terror" from Finsbury Park Mosque in London.

He was extradited from the UK in 2012, 10 years after the US first issued an initial warrant for his arrest.