Abu Hamza is unlikely to be held long-term at Supermax for health reasons, but as to the other three, facing life without parole, the Court found:
That raised concerns about breaches of Article 3 of the Human Rights Code on torture and inhuman or degrading treatment: "Their complaints under Article 3 concerning the stringency of conditions there for what could be the rest of their lives [raise] serious questions of fact and law of such complexity that the Court [has] to examine them on their merits," said the judges.
Among the conditions deemed unacceptable: prolonged solitary confinement.
Abu Hamza won a similar stay in 2008.
The decision is a temporary one, and the Court said it wanted more arguments before making a final ruling. The men will remain in custody in Great Britain until a final decision is made.
Objections have been lodged as to Abu Hamza's extradition for years. Here's one Harvard professor's reasons.
Abu Hamza was fingered by U.S. terror suspect James Ujaama of Seattle (originally from Denver.) What I've always wanted to know is if the U.S. confused Abu Hamza al-Masri (blind in one eye with hooks for hands) with the innocent Hamzi el-Masri, (also spelled al-Masri), the German shoe salesman who was plucked off a street in Macedonia, flown on Ghost Air to some secret detention center where he was kept and tortured. Condoleeza Rice eventually ordered his release with an apology.It wouldn't be the first time.
When the U.S. and Secretary of State Rice apologized, saying it was a case of mistaken identity, the New York Times wrote:
Authorities believed he was a member of Al Qaeda who had trained at one of Osama bin Laden's camps in Afghanistan. But within several months they concluded he was the victim of mistaken identity, the officials said. His name was similar to a Qaeda suspect on an international watch list of possible terrorist operatives, they said.
The U.S. indictment of Abu Hamzi, the London-based cleric, for attempting to set up a terrorist training camp in Oregon, hostage taking, conspiracy to take hostages, and providing material support to al Qaeda and the Taliban is here.