Sashan
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New York (CNN) -- Radical cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri arrived early Saturday in New York after losing a years-long legal battle in Britain to avoid extradition to the United States to face a myriad of terror charges, officials said.
Al-Masri was one of five men who departed England late Friday, hours after the High Court in London ruled the men could be extradited "immediately."
Two planes carrying the men left the British Air Force base Mildenhall so they could face trial in the United States, Home Secretary Theresa May said in a statement.
Al-Masri will make an initial appearance before a judge Saturday, and will be arraigned Tuesday, officials said.
Separately, Khaled al-Fawwaz and Adel Abdul Bary will also appear before a judge on Saturday and be arraigned Tuesday.
The trio were being held at New York's Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan ahead of their first scheduled court appearances, a federal law enforcement source told CNN.
Two others, Babar Ahmad and Talha Ahsan, clad in green and yellow prison jumpsuits, pleaded not guilty Saturday morning before a judge in New Haven, Connecticut, according to the U.S. Attorney's office there.
"The defendants entered not guilty pleas and acquiesced to the government's motions for pretrial detention," said Tom Carson, spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's office.
"The extraditions of Abu Hamza, Bary and al-Fawwaz are a major milestone in our effort to see these alleged high-level terrorists face American justice," said FBI New York acting assistant director-in-charge Mary Galligan. "When an indictment alleges the murderous intent of international terrorists, the government will not waver in its determination to achieve justice, no matter how long it takes."
BBC apologizes to Queen Elizabeth over Abu Hamza revelation
Earlier Friday, Judge John Thomas ruled that the British court's decision authorizing the extradition of the men could not be appealed and said it "may proceed immediately."
The charges against al-Masri include conspiracy in connection with a 1998 kidnapping of 16 Westerners in Yemen, and conspiring with others to establish an Islamic jihad training camp in rural Oregon in 1999. He could be sentenced to life in prison if convicted.
The cases of Ahmad and Ahsan are both linked to a website called azzam.com, which U.S. prosecutors say was run by the two men to support terrorism around the world.
Meanwhile, al-Fawwaz and Bary are accused of being al Qaeda associates of Osama bin Laden in London during the 1990s.
Al-Masri is one of the highest-profile radical Islamic figures in Britain, where he was already sentenced to seven years for inciting racial hatred at his north London mosque and other terrorism-related charges.
Born in Egypt in 1958, he traveled to Britain to study before gaining citizenship through marriage in the 1980s.
A one-time nightclub bouncer in London's Soho district, al-Masri -- also known as Mustafa Kamal Mustafa -- has said he lost both hands and one eye while fighting against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. He often wore a hook in place of one hand.
In 1997, al-Masri became the imam of a north London mosque, where his hate-filled speeches attacking the West began to attract national attention and followers, including Richard Reid, the so-called "shoe bomber" who attempted to blow up a Miami-bound passenger airplane three months after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Al-Masri has called the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center "a towering day in history" and described bin Laden as "a good guy and a hero."
He also described the Columbia space shuttle disaster in 2003 as "punishment from Allah" because the astronauts were Christian, Hindu and Jewish.
Al-Masri faces 11 charges in U.S. courts.
Lawyers for al-Masri told the British court their client suffers from deteriorating mental health and was unfit to plead.
Radical Islamist Abu Hamza al-Masri arrives in US - CNN.com
Al-Masri was one of five men who departed England late Friday, hours after the High Court in London ruled the men could be extradited "immediately."
Two planes carrying the men left the British Air Force base Mildenhall so they could face trial in the United States, Home Secretary Theresa May said in a statement.
Al-Masri will make an initial appearance before a judge Saturday, and will be arraigned Tuesday, officials said.
Separately, Khaled al-Fawwaz and Adel Abdul Bary will also appear before a judge on Saturday and be arraigned Tuesday.
The trio were being held at New York's Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan ahead of their first scheduled court appearances, a federal law enforcement source told CNN.
Two others, Babar Ahmad and Talha Ahsan, clad in green and yellow prison jumpsuits, pleaded not guilty Saturday morning before a judge in New Haven, Connecticut, according to the U.S. Attorney's office there.
"The defendants entered not guilty pleas and acquiesced to the government's motions for pretrial detention," said Tom Carson, spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's office.
"The extraditions of Abu Hamza, Bary and al-Fawwaz are a major milestone in our effort to see these alleged high-level terrorists face American justice," said FBI New York acting assistant director-in-charge Mary Galligan. "When an indictment alleges the murderous intent of international terrorists, the government will not waver in its determination to achieve justice, no matter how long it takes."
BBC apologizes to Queen Elizabeth over Abu Hamza revelation
Earlier Friday, Judge John Thomas ruled that the British court's decision authorizing the extradition of the men could not be appealed and said it "may proceed immediately."
The charges against al-Masri include conspiracy in connection with a 1998 kidnapping of 16 Westerners in Yemen, and conspiring with others to establish an Islamic jihad training camp in rural Oregon in 1999. He could be sentenced to life in prison if convicted.
The cases of Ahmad and Ahsan are both linked to a website called azzam.com, which U.S. prosecutors say was run by the two men to support terrorism around the world.
Meanwhile, al-Fawwaz and Bary are accused of being al Qaeda associates of Osama bin Laden in London during the 1990s.
Al-Masri is one of the highest-profile radical Islamic figures in Britain, where he was already sentenced to seven years for inciting racial hatred at his north London mosque and other terrorism-related charges.
Born in Egypt in 1958, he traveled to Britain to study before gaining citizenship through marriage in the 1980s.
A one-time nightclub bouncer in London's Soho district, al-Masri -- also known as Mustafa Kamal Mustafa -- has said he lost both hands and one eye while fighting against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. He often wore a hook in place of one hand.
In 1997, al-Masri became the imam of a north London mosque, where his hate-filled speeches attacking the West began to attract national attention and followers, including Richard Reid, the so-called "shoe bomber" who attempted to blow up a Miami-bound passenger airplane three months after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Al-Masri has called the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center "a towering day in history" and described bin Laden as "a good guy and a hero."
He also described the Columbia space shuttle disaster in 2003 as "punishment from Allah" because the astronauts were Christian, Hindu and Jewish.
Al-Masri faces 11 charges in U.S. courts.
Lawyers for al-Masri told the British court their client suffers from deteriorating mental health and was unfit to plead.
Radical Islamist Abu Hamza al-Masri arrives in US - CNN.com
