Abu Hamza Conviction Raises MI5 Protection Questions

The Guardian suggests the convicted Imam of London's Finsbury Park Mosque may have had ties to MI5:

The conviction raises questions of why he was not prosecuted until many years after he had made his most inflammatory sermons and had established Finsbury Park mosque as a centre of Islamist extremism in Europe.

A senior French intelligence chief told the Guardian that for years Britain had failed to take action against him despite being given evidence that he had extensive involvement in terrorism. Former mosque worshippers say they told police about Abu Hamza's activities, including a meeting in the mosque to pledge allegiance to Osama bin Laden.

A former MI5 agent who infiltrated the mosque says Abu Hamza was allowed to operate by the security services as long as he did not threaten Britain's national security. Both the agent and a close associate of Abu Hamza say the cleric was an unwitting informant on other extremist Muslims. It emerged that over a three-year period the cleric had met repeatedly with MI5 and Special Branch. A senior British counter-terrorism official said that a raid on the mosque in January 2003 recovered replica guns which had been used at "UK-based training camps". He added that "dozens" of terrorism investigations led back to Abu Hamza, who was "part of ... the global jihad. It would be a mistake to regard him as a buffoon".