Britain 'could be harbouring 20 more Abu Hamzas'

Britain could be harbouring 20 more foreign radical imams like Abu Hamza, the Government's anti-terrorism watchdog said yesterday.

Lord Carlile QC, who carried out an official review of counter-terrorism laws, said radicals such as Hamza had been able to operate because not enough had been done to check the credentials of people arriving from abroad.
Hamza was jailed for seven years last week for inciting murder and preaching hatred.
Lord Carlile, a Liberal Democrat peer, said he feared that other extremists were continuing to radicalise young Muslim men in universities, prisons and young offenders' institutions.
"I would be amazed if there were more than 20 such clerics in the country, but that is a pure guess,'' he said. "My worry is that they are in places such as colleges and custodial institutions where there are larger numbers than elsewhere of impressionable young men.
"A small number can have a disproportionate effect if they are in the wrong place.
"Very little has been done in the past to look in detail at the past history of imams who have gone into some cities."
Lord Carlile believed that public trust in the security and intelligence services had been harmed by the case they made out for war in Iraq and, in particular, the so-called ''dodgy dossier'' that claimed that Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction.
"The trust issue has been very damaged by the intelligence information connected with the Iraq war which is perceived to be inaccurate," he said. "That has had a devastating effect on the level of trust given to MI5."
Tony Blair called on MPs last night to back him in today's key Commons vote on anti-terrorism legislation.
The Prime Minister believes that the nature of the threat justifies a new offence of ''glorifying'' terrorist acts, a law he proposed in his 12-point plan after the bomb attacks in London last July.
However, plans for a separate offence were dropped after protests from MPs and glorification became part of a general offence covering "indirect encouragement" of terrorism.
The measure was watered down further in the Lords but the Government will ask MPs today to beef it up again. Downing Street said that unless it was, efforts to prosecute demonstrators carrying placards calling for bombings would be undermined.