British police today arrested Abu Hamza al-Masri under section 41 of the Terrorism Act.
The 47-year-old former imam of Finsbury Park mosque was arrested this morning at Belmarsh high security prison in south-east London on suspicion of involvement in the “commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism”.
He has been taken to Paddington Green police station in central London and is being interviewed by detectives from the Anti-Terrorist Branch. He has not been charged.
Scotland Yard said that the offences he is suspected of are alleged to have been committed in Britain.
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Abu Hamza has been held at Belmarsh since his arrest in May on separate terrorist allegations brought by the United States government, which wants to extradite him to face trial in America. He denies the US allegations and is fighting extradition.
“The arrest is part of separate, domestic [UK] inquiries,” a police spokesman said today.
If terrorist charges are brought against Abu Hamza under British law, that prosecution would take precedence over his extradition, effectively stalling the American legal action.
A Crown Prosecution Service source said: “Extradition proceedings are affected if a person who has been arrested for extradition is charged with an offence in the UK.
“At that time the judge in the extradition case must adjourn the hearing until the charge is dealt with through prosecution or is discontinued with or ordered to lie on file.
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“We are liaising with the Metropolitan Police and will wait to see if there is enough evidence for us to apply a charge.”
The matter is being handled by the CPS Casework Directorate, which handles the most serious cases.
America’s request to extradite Abu Hamza and today’s arrest under the Terrorism Act were being dealt with as “completely separate matters”, the CPS said.