FBI eyes evidence to extradite Muslim cleric

LONDON — The FBI is examining evidence from a sting operation mounted against the radical Muslim cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri in Britain to determine whether it bolsters the case for his extradition to the United States on terrorism-related charges.

A cache of secret video and audiotapes was given by al-Masri to a researcher, who infiltrated his group based at the Finsbury Park mosque in London.

One of the tapes includes a documentary in Arabic detailing the engineering methods used in building the World Trade Center’s Twin Towers.

Recorded before the September 11 terrorist attacks, the tape also details the construction of the Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, currently the world’s tallest structures.

In footage of a meeting of militant Islamists on one of the tapes, a voice can be heard repeatedly shouting in the background: “Brother Atta.”

Mohamed Atta was the lead hijacker in the September 11 terrorist attacks.

Several of the hijackers are thought to have visited the United Kingdom in 1999, staying at an address in Wood Green in north London.

Glen Jenvey, 38-year-old British free-lance counterintelligence investigator, was sent the tapes after he set up a fake Web site for al Qaeda supporters.

Mr. Jenvey published militant Islamic propaganda on the site and passed on details of people visiting the site to the FBI. He then contacted al-Masri, who was said to be delighted with the site and sent him several films used for recruitment.

Mr. Jenvey told the London Sunday Times: “I started to suggest I could help him recruit people for his jihad. He got very excited by this.

“He would burble prayers down the phone in an almost demented fashion. I thought he must be a bit mad.”

Antiterrorist branch officers at Scotland Yard in London took a statement from Mr. Jenvey in March and sent it to the FBI, which is building a case for the extradition of al-Masri to the United States.

Other material on the tapes shows al-Masri talking at a private meeting about so-called suicide bombers and three Britons being interviewed about their experiences fighting jihad in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Another of the videos shows him holding a meeting with James Ujaama, who used to oversee al-Masri’s Web site in London and has been convicted in the United States of aiding the Taliban.

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