Smash hit

The tape later cuts to Hamza speaking to a private audience in London about “so-called” suicide bombers. He appears to use the Koran to justify the tactic. “It is to inflict suffering, it is in the time, in the methodology of suicide, it is there and at its peak,” says Hamza.

In another tape, three British volunteers are interviewed in Bosnia about their experiences. All three urge Muslims at home to undergo jihad training and criticise those who are content to merely donate money or lend moral support.

The first volunteer identifies himself as being from north London. He says he is a third-year medical student at Birmingham University. Hiding his face behind a black scarf, he holds an assault rifle aloft as he speaks to the camera and talks about the satisfaction of seeing “hundreds of dead bodies” in Bosnia.

Another tape opens with scenes of what appears to be a massacre of Serbian civilians in a village in Bosnia. The camera roves around the scene, focusing on corpses that litter the ground. Some of the bodies are being taken away on stretchers by distraught relatives. A jihad anthem plays in the background.

Another tape, allegedly provided by Hamza, is a documentary in Arabic about the building of the World Trade Center in New York and the Petronas Towers in Malaysia. It was made prior to September 11.

Jenvey continued to monitor Hamza’s website. In April this year he noticed a film showing Russian soldiers being blown up by Chechnyan terrorists.

The rest off the film was available through a link from Hamza’s website. It showed training with live ammunition at a camp in Afghanistan and appears to be an exercise for would-be assassins. Some of the target images projected on to a screen are of western politicians. Many of the faces are obscured, but Bill Clinton, the former US president, is clearly recognisable.

Shortly after Jenvey reported this Hamza’s website was shut down by the internet service provider.

One tape given to Jenvey has already made an impact. It shows Hamza at a meeting sharing a platform with the US terrorist suspect James Ujaama.

Ujaama designed Hamza’s internet site under the name Abu Samaya, but denied knowing Hamza when first arrested by the FBI. However, his defence crumbled when the tape was produced. He is now the key witness against Hamza in the grand jury investigation.

According to court papers, Hamza provided letters of “introduction or sponsorship” for people to enter Al-Qaeda camps. The documents say he sent two “emissaries” to help Ujaama set up the Bly training camp.

Despite his activities, Hamza is still at liberty in Britain, although his assets have been frozen and his disability benefits stopped. The Home Office is trying to strip him of his British citizenship in order to deport him. The cleric preached at the North London mosque in Finsbury Park before it was closed down following a police raid in January.

A senior legal source involved in Hamza’s case said: “Either they will strip him of his citizenship and then detain him under new immigration laws so he rots in prison or they will extradite him to America.”

A spokesman for Hamza denied he played any role in terror. “Supportersofshariah.org had many affiliate websites to whom we would send videos,” he said. “Abu Hamza’s tapes were on sale openly at Finsbury Park mosque. The grand jury investigation in America is a joke and a kangaroo court. They have put pressure on Ujaama to say these things.”

Explore UK News

• Crime News

• Education News

• Health News

• Scotland News

Times Recommends

• Please help: maimed children of war want their lives back
• Unlocking the cruellest prison
• Prince Charles named in £81m court battle