Islamic terror cleric Abu Hamza and four others will be extradited to US

The High Court in London has ruled that radical Islamic cleric Abu Hamza and four others will be extradited to the U.S. in the next few days. The court actually said that they could be extradited 'immediately' but it's not thought that they will be frog-marched straight to a plane for the U.S.

Hamza's lawyers tried to convince the court that he was not mentally fit enough to make a plea and that he should be taken to a hospital for an MRI scan. The court threw this idea out and ruled that he could be extradited as soon as possible.

All the other suspects will also be extradited to the U.S. Two are accused of running an extremist website and an other two of being involved in bombings in Africa with Osama bin Laden.

This was the five suspects' last ditch attempt to overturn the European Court of Human Rights ruling that they could indeed be flown to America for trial. The U.S. has been trying to extradite the men for more than ten years.

The judges today said that they were totally unconvinced by Abu Hamza's assertion that he was mentally unfit to plea and said:

"We were wholly unpersuaded that on the evidence that he was unfit to plead. We concluded that if Abu Hamza might be unfit to plead, because of sleep deprivation and physical conditions at HMP Belmarsh, then this condition being treatable could be treated in the United States. If any potential unfitness to plead was emerging from a degenerative condition of the brain, the Court concluded that the sooner he is put on trial the better."

The British Home Office said, after the judgement "we are now working to extradite these men as quickly as possible."

US officials are said to working now with the U.K. government to arrange flights to the U.S. where secure cells await all the men and a trial for terrorist activity.