Dewsbury terror suspect and Abu Hamza aide is extradited to US

Haroon Rashid Aswat, from Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, is accused by US authorities of working with Hamza in 1999 to set up a Jihadist training camp in Oregon.

Earlier this year, the Home Secretary was told to put extradition plans on hold after judges heard that Aswat, 40, suffered from paranoid schizophrenia.

But last month two High Court judges said they were satisfied with assurances given by American officials that he would be cared for.

Aswat, who was originally arrested at RAF Northolt on August 7 2005 by officers from the Metropolitan Police Service’s Extradition Unit, was taken from Broadmoor hospital to a UK airport this morning and handed over to US authorities.

Hamza was extradited from Britain to America nearly two years ago and found guilty of terrorism charges in May after a trial in New York.

The warrants issued on behalf of the US authorities allege that, between October 1 1999 and April 30 2000, Aswat conspired with others to control and manage people who would be employed for “the use or display of physical force in promoting a political object, namely to make hijrah to, and to fight jihad in, Afghanistan”.

Aswat’s lawyers had argued that he might suffer a relapse if held in an American jail pending any trial.

And, at a High Court hearing in April, judges had said they wanted assurances about the way he would be treated.

After a hearing last month, a Home Office spokesman said: ‘’We are pleased the court has upheld the Home Secretary’s decision to extradite Haroon Aswat to the United States.

“The court agreed that the American authorities had provided sufficient assurances over the conditions in which Aswat would be held in the US.”