The land-mine explosion that cost radical Muslim imam Abu Hamza al-Masri the use of one eye and his two hands left his mind as twisted as his body.
It turned the Egyptian-born al-Masri into a man who foments hate – a cleric who is regularly derided in British tabloid headlines as “The Hook.”
Al-Masri was named Mustaf Kamel Mustafa by his middle-class parents when he was born in Alexandria, Egypt, 47 years ago.
In his mid-20s, he headed for England to become a civil engineer.
He worked for a while as a bouncer at a London nightclub, married a British woman in 1981 – automatically gaining British citizenship – and, after five years, got a divorce.
In the 1980s, he went to Afghanistan to fight the Soviet occupation. It was there, while clearing land mines, that he lost an eye and two hands.
When he returned to England, he organized Supporters of Sharia, a group dedicated to the rule of Islamic law.
It made headlines in 1999 when five members – including his 17-year-old son and a stepson – were convicted in Yemen of plotting to blow up a church, a hotel and the British consulate.
Al-Masri was questioned, but never charged – although Yemeni officials claim he had dispatched the conspirators.
Al-Masri was also accused of working with the Islamic radicals who took 16 tourists hostage in Yemen in December 1998 – charges the U.S. revived yesterday.
British officials claim al-Masri used his Finsbury Park Mosque in North London as a “safe haven for Islamic extremists.”
He also used it to spew hate, praising the 9/11 terrorists as “martyrs” and urging British Muslims to copy the suicide bombers terrorizing Israel.
The British police closed down the mosque in early 2003, and later revoked his citizenship – an action that he is appealing.