Muslim cleric gets 7-year term

LONDON -- A radical Muslim cleric linked to Sept. 11 plotter Zacarias Moussaoui was sentenced to seven years in prison yesterday for inciting followers to kill non-Muslims when he led a London mosque.

Abu Hamza al-Masri also faces terrorism charges in the United States, and a Justice Department spokesman said the United States ''stands ready to resume extradition proceedings" when the British case is completed.

In yesterday's sentencing, Judge Anthony Hughes told Masri that his sermons at the Finsbury Park mosque, attended by Moussaoui and Richard Reid had endangered people around the world.

Moussaoui pleaded guilty last year to plotting with Al Qaeda to fly planes into US buildings. Reid was convicted of attempting to blow up an American Airlines flight in 2001 with a bomb hidden in his shoe.

''You helped to create an atmosphere in which to kill has become regarded by some as not only a legitimate course but as a moral and religious duty in pursuit of perceived justice," the judge said.

Masri sat impassively in the wood-paneled dock as the jury foreman read out guilty verdicts on 11 of 15 counts, including incitement to murder, fomenting racial hatred, possessing a terrorist document, and possessing abusive recordings. He had faced a maximum of life in prison.

Hughes sentenced Masri to seven years on the most serious charges of soliciting murder and allowed him to serve his sentences on the other charges concurrently.

''I am quite satisfied that you are and were a person whose views created a real danger to the lives of innocent people in different parts of the world," he said.

Defense lawyers said Masri planned to appeal. Defense lawyer Muddassar Arani said Masri believed he was ''a prisoner of faith."