RADICAL CLERIC DEFENDS SELF IN LONDON COURT

LONDON (AP) - Radical cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri took the stand in his defense Thursday as British prosecutors wrapped up their case against the former Muslim preacher charged with inciting hatred and murder against non-Muslims.

The Egyptian-born al-Masri, 47, faces life in prison if convicted of inciting murder and stirring racial hatred in speeches recorded on nine video and audio tapes made for supporters, some of whom prayed at the Finsbury Park mosque.

He has pleaded not guilty.

Jurors have listened to tapes during the trial, and on Thursday, were told by London Metropolitan Police Detective Keith Asman how "The Encyclopedia of the Afghani Jihad" was seized from al-Masri's west London home.

The book is an alleged terrorism manual that describes desirable terrorist targets, such as London's Big Ben, and how to carry out assassinations.

Defense attorney Edward Fitzgerald said al-Masri would give evidence in his defense, but pleaded with the jury not to be influenced by images of al-Masri, who he said had been demonized in the British media with repeated pictures of the one-eyed, hook-handed preacher.

Hamza is "the most frequently ridiculed figure" in the country, Fitzgerald said of al-Masri, who says he lost his eye and hands fighting Soviet troops in Afghanistan in the 1980s.

Al-Masri, whose real name is Mustafa Kamel Mustafa, was a head preacher at London's Finsbury Park mosque in north London, a mosque that has been linked to terrorist suspects including alleged Sept. 11 plotter Zacarias Moussaoui and "shoe bomber" Richard Reid.

In some of the recordings jurors have listened to during the trial, prosecutors have said al-Masri encouraged followers to kill Jews and other non-Muslims. He also allegedly told followers that Jews "control the West and must be removed from the Earth."

Al-Masri also referred to Jews as "blasphemous, traitors and dirty" and said their behavior was "why Hitler was sent into the world," prosecutors said.

Al-Masri is wanted in the United States on an 11-count indictment from 2004 that charges him with conspiring to provide material support to the al-Qaida terror network by establishing a training camp in Oregon; conspiring to take hostages in Yemen and facilitating training in Afghanistan.

Under British law, the charges he faces in the United Kingdom take precedence over the U.S. case and he cannot be tried in the United States until a verdict has been reached.