Abu Hamza, the radical Muslim cleric, was remanded in custody today after appearing in a high-security London court facing extradition to the US on terror-related charges.

The indictment, announced earlier in New York by John Ashcroft, the US Attorney General, includes charges relating to a 1998 hostage-taking in Yemen, during which three Britons and one Australian died.

He was also charged with providing support and resources to al-Qaeda and attempting to set up a training camp in Oregon.

Mr Ashcroft said that telephone records linked Abu Hamza with the Yemen hostage takers and that the cleric provided a satellite phone to leaders of the hostage plot.

Raymond Kelly, the New York police commissioner, said that Abu Hamza was the "real deal." He added: "He is suspected of providing support to trainees in Osama bin Laden's terrorist camps as well as dispatching associates from England to help establish Jihad training sites here in the US.

"Think of him as a freelance consultant to terrorism groups worldwide."

Abu Hamza could be extradited within four months under the new "fast track" Anglo-American treaty, which came into force at the start of this year. But if lawyers resort to every avenue of appeal at each stage of the proceedings, the process could be as long as a year.

The maximum penalty for the hostage offences is death, but Abu Hamza is unlikely to face such a fate. David Blunkett, the Home Secretary, would need "adequate assurances" that the death penalty would not apply before he would agree to any extradition, a Home Office spokesman said today.

In a special court in Belmarsh prison, south-east London today the cleric wore a grey coat, open-necked white shirt and white T-shirt and sat between two guards in bright yellow shirts.

He stood and confirmed his name and date of birth before the charges were put to him by the clerk of the court. Above him in the public gallery more than a dozen of his supporters sat alongside anti-Hamza protesters.

He gave a slight laughand shrugged his shoulders when he was asked if he would consent to being extradited. He then replied: "I don't really think I want to, no."

For much of the hearing, including when the lengthy charge list was read out, Abu Hamza appeared to be asleep.