off the hook

Abu Hamza (usually subtitled Radical Muslim Cleric) has won his appeal against the government’s attempt to take away his British passport. The process to relieve him of Britishness started in 2003, but then later Egypt sneakily said they would remove his Egyptian nationality too. Even though there is no substantial evidence that Egypt have yet done that, our Special Immigration Appeals Commission felt it would be unfair to leave Hamza ‘stateless’.
So Hamza, who is serving a prison sentence for inciting murder and racial hatred (including encouraging terrorist bombers) remains British. In 2008 the Home Secretary Jacqui Smith ratified a court’s decision to allow his extradition to the US, which of course hasn’t happened yet and probably won’t. The current Home Sec and the PM are said to be extremely disappointed by the appeal decision, but will do nothing about it.