Radical Muslim Cleric Will Be Extradited to U.S.

Let's just hope he's not waterboarded, otherwise the Democrats might wet their pants.

A British court ruled Thursday that radical Muslim cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri can be extradited to the United States, a member of al-Masri's defense team confirmed to CNN, though any final decision on extradition is still several months away.

Al-Masri's legal advisers said they were still exploring avenues of appeal, a process which could take months. Under British law, al-Masri must be allowed to exhaust his appeals before any extradition proceedings continue.

The British home secretary also has until the end of the cleric's current seven-year jail term to approve the extradition, though the Home Office said Secretary Jacqui Smith was expected to make a decision "shortly."

Al-Masri, who lost both hands and one eye working in Afghanistan, is the highest-profile radical Islamic figure in Britain.

Working in Afghanistan? Must have been one of those dreaded work accidents.

He formerly preached at the Finsbury Park Mosque in London. His followers included the so-called "shoe bomber" Richard Reid -- who was convicted of trying to light a bomb in his shoes on a trans-Atlantic flight -- and Zacarias Moussaoui, the only person to be charged in the United States in connection with the September 11, 2001, terror attacks.

The Egyptian-born cleric began serving a seven-year prison sentence last year after being convicted in a British court of soliciting murder and inciting racial hatred.

But he is also facing 11 terrorism-related charges in the United States, which has promised to press for his extradition when British law allows.

The U.S. charges include conspiracy in connection with a 1998 kidnapping in Yemen and conspiring with others to establish an Islamic jihad, or holy war, training camp in rural Oregon in 1999.