Abu Hamza could not be sent from Britain to the US...

Abu Hamza could not be sent from Britain to the US to face terrorism charges because any guarantee given by the US government not to execute him was worthless, a court was told. The cleric, who used preach at Finsbury Park mosque in north London, was facing a string of terror charges in the US. His barrister, Edward Fitzgerald QC, said any guarantee that the US government gave not to execute Hamza if he was convicted would be worthless, because it would not be binding on state courts should any seek to try him. Britain and other EU countries refuse to extradite suspects to the US without an explicit guarantee that the death penalty will not be sought. Mr Fitzgerald said: "If there is any risk that the state court could try Mr Hamza, that can be a bar to extradition."
A specialist in the US death penalty, Clive Stafford Smith, said: "Mr Hamza can be tried and acquitted in federal court and then tried again in a state court - even in more than one state court - and face the death penalty.
The British Home Office had said the US would have to give written guarantees that Mr Hamza would not be executed before he could be extradited.