By Basil Katz
NEW YORK (Reuters) - One-eyed radical Islamist cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri pleaded not guilty in federal court on Tuesday after Britain extradited him to the United States to face trial and a potential life sentence on terrorism charges.
U.S. Judge Katherine Forrest in Manhattan set an August 26, 2013, trial date for the Egyptian-born preacher. Hamza, who is missing both his hands and an eye - injuries he says he sustained during humanitarian work in Afghanistan in the 1980s - could face up to life in prison if convicted on the charges.
Hamza, 54, is accused of participating in an 1998 hostage-taking in Yemen that resulted in the deaths of three Britons and an Australian. He is also charged with providing material support to the al Qaeda network by trying to set up a training camp in Oregon and with attempting to organize support for the Taliban in Afghanistan.
He was flown late on Friday to the United States along with four other men also wanted on U.S. terrorism charges.
(Reporting by Basil Katz; Editing by Martha Graybow and Will Dunham)
