Hamza jurors warned not to get 'sidetracked'

The Old Bailey jury trying Muslim cleric Abu Hamza on soliciting to murder and race hate charges was warned today not to get “sidetracked” by the weekend’s events.

Before jurors began considering their verdicts for a fourth day, Mr Justice Hughes told them not to get into a general debate about free speech.

“Be careful to avoid getting sidetracked into a more general discussion, particularly in light of the events of the last few days,” he told them.

“Do not, for example, get into a debate about when free speech ought to be tolerated or restrained. You are not here as law makers.

“Do not get into speculation over whether or not anybody else might have committed offences over the course of the last few days, on one side or the other.”

He added: “You are interested in this defendant and this defendant alone.”

The jury was sent home yesterday after a juror fell ill, but that person has now recovered and the members resumed their deliberations this morning.

On Friday the judge told the jury there was no pressure or deadline on them.

The prosecution alleges that Hamza was a recruiting sergeant for terrorism and murder.

In his talks to audiences, “he was preaching terrorism, homicidal violence and hatred”, according to prosecutor David Perry.

Hamza made clear encouragements to kill when he gave lectures and sermons, he told the jury.

He also preached hatred against Jews and non-Muslims, stirring up racial hatred, the prosecution alleges.

But Hamza claimed the case against him was politically motivated. The police made it up out of nothing, he suggested.

They arrested him in 1999 when they took away 725 tapes – some of which were of a similar nature to those in the current case.

They also took away the 10-volume Encyclopaedia Of The Afghani Jihad at the same time.

Prosecution later relied on the encyclopaedia, alleging it was a terrorism “manual” containing a dedication to Osama bin Laden and a passage suggesting a list of potential targets, including skyscrapers, the Eiffel Tower and Big Ben.

But Hamza said it was a gift and he had not read it. He dismissed a prosecution question asking whether there were Jihad (struggle to establish Islam) training camps in the UK as “a silly idea”.

His counsel Edward Fitzgerald QC said Hamza had been constantly monitored by the police and security services. His home in Shepherds Bush, west London, was “the most monitored in the country”.

“If he was intending inciting murder, why was he willingly talking to police and MI5 at the same time?”

Hamza, 47, faces nine charges under the Offences Against the Person Act 1861 alleging that he solicited others at public meetings to murder Jews and other non-Muslims.

He 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”.

A further charge alleges Hamza was in possession of video and audio recordings which he intended to distribute to stir up racial hatred.

The final charge, under section 58 of the Terrorism Act, accuses him of possession of a document, the Encyclopaedia Of The Afghani Jihad, which contained information “of a kind likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism”.

The cleric denies all the charges.