London, Sep 30 (IANS) Five sons of hate preacher Abu Hamza, who is fighting extradition to the US from Britain, have been convicted of serious offences ranging from bomb making to fraud and assaulting police, the Daily Mail reported Sunday.
Hamza is charged in the US with 11 counts relating to taking of 16 hostages in Yemen in 1998, advocating jehad in Afghanistan and conspiring to set up a jehad training camp in the US. He lost both hands and an eye fighting the Soviet Union in Afghanistan.
His four sons have already served custodial sentences while the fifth is awaiting sentence for an armed robbery.
Hamza has nine children from two marriages, including a stepson with his second wife.
Of the seven sons, all aged over 18, only two have not been in trouble with the law. His two youngest children are girls aged 16 and 13.
The preacher was married in 1980 to Valerie Traverso, a British woman, and divorced four years later after having one son Mohammed. He has seven children with his second wife Najat and a stepson Mohssin Ghailan.
Hamza and four other terror suspects are facing extradition to America within days after the European Court of Human Rights rejected their appeal to stay in Britain.
The US first requested Hamza’s extradition in 2004. The process was put on hold when Hamza was charged in Britain with 15 offences under the Terrorism Act.
In 2006, Hamza was found guilty on 11 charges, including inciting murder and race hate, and was jailed for seven years.
