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Abu Hamza not guilty plea

Radical cleric Abu Hamza has pleaded not guilty in a New York court to charges he conspired to set up a terrorist training camp in the US, according to the Associated Press.

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Local MP: 'Big risk' in the US to plead not guilty

Shadow Justice Secretary, Sadiq Khan, is the MP for Tooting, where two of the men facing extradition - Babar Ahmad and Syed Ahsan - both live. He said:

The way criminal cases work in America means that defendants facing a trial are advised to plea-bargain. I predict that both my constituents will do the same as all the other British men extradited to the USA have done and plead guilty. It is a big risk pleading not guilty.

My understanding is that the consequences of this include the threat of life in solitary confinement without parole, should they lose a trial.

If those are the stakes which pleading not guilty involve, then it is no wonder that over 97% of defendants accept a plea bargain.

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