Abu Hamza denies terror charges in New York court

Abu Hamza depicted in a courtroom sketch from his arraignment hearing yesterday (Getty Images)

The radical cleric Abu Hamza will face trial in the US next year after pleading not guilty to terrorism charges in a New York court.

Abu Hamza, indicted under the name Mustafa Kamel Mustafa after he was extradited from the UK last week, was given a trial date of 26 August 2013 at the Manhattan federal court yesterday.

He has been charged with 11 counts of criminal conduct relating to the taking of 16 hostages in Yemen in 1998, advocating violent jihad in Afghanistan in 2001, and conspiring to establish a jihad training camp in Oregon the same year.

He first appeared in court on Saturday – without his usual metal hooks on his arms – after being flown to the US on Friday.

Khaled al-Fawwaz and Adel Abdul Bary, two other suspected terrorists extradited with Hamza, are charged in the bombings of embassies in Tanzania and Kenya in August 1998. Both men were given trial dates for October 2013 after pleading not guilty to terrorism charges on Saturday.