LONDON, England (AFP) – Radical Muslim cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri was sentenced to seven years in prison yesterday after his criminal trial in London found him guilty of incitement of racial hatred and soliciting murder.

Sentencing the hook-handed, one-eyed imam of Finsbury Park Mosque, north London, Judge Anthony Hughes said Hamza – who faces extradition to the United States – used his authority to encourage his audiences that killing was a religious duty.

“I do not make the mistake of thinking that you represent Islamic thinking generally,” he added.

He could also face losing his British passport, Hughes added, stating that Hamza’s words, and their potential spread through followers, made him a “real danger” to the lives of innocent people around the world.

Police said later that Hamza was likely to have met “shoe bomber” Richard Reid, and Zacarias Moussaoui, the only person charged in the United States over the September 11 attacks in 2001, during his time at the mosque.

The extradition request – not revealed to the jury – centres around claims that Hamza supported an alleged terrorist camp in the Pacific Northwest.

One of his legal team, Muddassar Arani, immediately announced an appeal, stating that Hamza believed he was a “prisoner of faith” and was “subject to slow martyrdom”.

“Sheikh Abu Hamza is of the view that his case is politically-motivated against him,” she added.

The 47-year-old’s conviction comes at a time of heightened debate about free speech in Britain and parliamentary wrangling over the government’s attempts to introduce new legislation against religious hatred and glorifying terrorism.