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Filed Under:Abu Hamza, Abu Hamza al-Masri, Irene Cornell, jury deliberations, Mustafa Kamel Mustafa, Terror Trial, Terrorism
Mustafa Kamel Mustafa, also known as Abu Hamza al-Masri (file/credit: Getty Images)


NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) – A jury in New York has begun deliberations in the trial of an Egyptian imam accused of supporting terrorist organizations from his London mosque.

Jury deliberations began Thursday morning in the case brought against Mustafa Kamel Mustafa, just as the emotion-filled dedication ceremony for the National Sept. 11 Memorial Museum was wrapping up.

U.S. District Judge Katherine Forrest in Manhattan warned jurors not to be “swayed by sympathy, prejudice or fear.”

As WCBS 880’s Irene Cornell reported, jurors began their deliberations by asking the judge for the exhibits in the case that make up what prosecutors call a trail of evidence linking Mustafa to 11 acts of terrorism.

The indictment charges what is described as “criminal activity spanning the globe,” Cornell reported.

Mustafa, also known by the aliases Abu Hamza and Abu Hamza al-Masri, testified on his own behalf in the month-long trial.

Prosecutors said the 55-year-old cleric provided a satellite phone to men who abducted 16 tourists in Yemen in December 1998. Four of the hostages died.

They also said he supported al Qaeda by plotting to open a training camp in Oregon in late 1999 and by sending young men to Afghanistan training camps.

Mustafa testified he never supported al Qaeda or any terrorist acts. He was brought to the United States in 2012.

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