ABU HAMZA AL-MASRI, the radical Muslim cleric, was charged yesterday with 16 offences of encouraging murder, stirring up race hatred and possessing a terrorist document.

Ten of the counts allege that the former imam “did solicit or encourage” others at public meetings to kill non-believers in the Muslim faith: four refer specifically to attacks on Jews.

The charges under Section 4 of the Offences Against the Persons Act 1861 carry a maximum sentence of life imprisonment on conviction.

Abu Hamza also faces four charges under the Public Order Act 1986 of “using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour with the intention of stirring up racial hatred”.

The evidence in each of the murder and race hate charges is based on recordings made at meetings held before late May this year when he was arrested on an extradition warrant.

Abu Hamza is also accused under the Public Order Act 1986 of possessing eight “threatening, abusive or insulting” audio and videotapes that he intended to distribute or play to stir up racial hatred. The sixteenth charge under Section 58 of the Terrorism Act 2000 covers the alleged possession of a document that contained information “of a kind likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism”.

The charges were put to the cleric as he sat yesterday in the dock at Belmarsh Magistrates’ Court in south- east London for an extradition hearing.

Abu Hamza, the former imam of the Finsbury Park Mosque in North London, is wanted in the United States and the extradition proceedings were automatically adjourned yesterday after the charges were put to him. They will remain in abeyance until he is acquitted or convicted of the British charges and will then resume.

Yesterday Abu Hamza, who is one-eyed, has grey hair and a long beard and was wearing a long beige shirt, sat in the dock as the hearing opened. He nodded to confirm his identity and the charges as they were read to him. During the hearing four prison officers stood behind Abu Hamza. The proceedings lasted three hours and he was allowed to leave the dock for some time because he felt unwell.

At the end of the hearing Timothy Workman, a senior district judge, committed him in custody to the Old Bailey for a preliminary hearing on October 26. No application was made for bail.

Abu Hamza was born in Egypt and came to Britain as a student. He obtained British citizenship after marrying a British woman whom he has since divorced. He lost his hand and an eye in a bomb explosion in Afghanistan. He now lives in West London.

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