Yasser Kamel blamed his own criminal behaviour on his father’s terrorist activities. Getty
Yasser Kamel blamed his own criminal behaviour on his father’s terrorist activities. Getty
Yasser Kamel blamed his own criminal behaviour on his father’s terrorist activities. Getty
Yasser Kamel blamed his own criminal behaviour on his father’s terrorist activities. Getty

Abu Hamza's son sentenced to jail for drug dealing


Nicky Harley
  • English
  • Arabic

The son of extremist cleric Abu Hamza blamed his life of crime on his father's imprisonment for terrorism.

Yasser Kamel, 31, made the claim in an English court through his lawyer as he was sentenced to jail for drug dealing.

Abu Hamza, whose real name is Mustafa Kamel Mustafa, was sentenced to seven years in jail in the UK for hate speech. In 2015 he was sentenced to life in jail in the US for terrorism offences.

From 1997, Abu Hamza was an imam at Finsbury Park mosque, in north London, reportedly attended by September 11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui, some of the London Tube bombers and shoe bomber Richard Reid.

Abu Hamza was affiliated to Al Muhajiroun, the militant extremist Salafist group. He publicly praised acts of terrorism, including the September 11 attacks in the US.

Kamel was jailed for four years this week for drug offences.

He was caught with cocaine, amphetamines and ketamine worth £30,000 ($41,839) when police raided his flat in Park Royal, London, in December 2019.

A police officer stands in front of Finsbury Park Mosque in London. EPA
A police officer stands in front of Finsbury Park Mosque in London. EPA

He admitted two counts of possession with intent to supply Class A drugs and one count of possession with intent to supply Class B drugs.

His lawyer, William Evans, told Southwark Crown Court that Kamel went off the rails after his father’s well-publicised exploits.

"He is one of the children of Abu Hamza, the preacher convicted in the UK and extradited," he said.

“The impact upon him of what happened to his father was traumatic. He feels he has suffered significantly as a result of what his father committed when he was only a child.

“This is a picture of a 14-year-old child whose life was turned upside down.

“It’s no coincidence that his offending started in 2008 when he was 18 and finished prior to this in 2012 when he was 22 and things concluded with his father’s extradition.”

Kamel was 14 when his father was first arrested and 22 when the preacher was extradited to the US.

Abu Hamza was sentenced in Britain on a terrorist charge and six counts of soliciting murder.

In October 2015, he was extradited to the US to face 11 charges related to terrorism and kidnapping.

His crimes included facilitating satellite communications between kidnappers for a 1998 attack in Yemen in which four tourists were killed, supporting plans to open an Al Qaeda training camp in the US state of Oregon and sending someone to a training camp in Afghanistan.

The court was told Kamel found it “extremely difficult” to find employment once his identity became known.

“He has struggled for any kind of normality. That culminated in 2019 to changing his name from Yasser Kamal ... he now calls himself Jamal Luciano to distance himself from that,” the lawyer said.

“He believes he is under surveillance; whether he is right I don’t know. His family certainly have been; he may still be.”

Judge Deborah Taylor sentenced Kamal to four years in prison.

“There is evidence you were dealing to individuals, the drugs were high purity and the circumstances of the drugs show you have close links to the original source and the expectation of substantial financial gain,” she said.

Another of Abu Hamza’s sons, Mohammed Kamel Mostafa, was sentenced to jail in Yemen for plotting to blow up British and American targets.

Abu Hamza is suing the US for mistreatment and seeking release from jail on compassionate grounds.

He said the hooks he uses for hands were confiscated by prison guards and that he has been subjected to “inhumane and degrading conditions”.

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Although you can buy gold easily on the Dubai markets, the problem with buying physical bars, coins or jewellery is that you then have storage, security and insurance issues.

A far easier option is to invest in a low-cost exchange traded fund (ETF) that invests in the precious metal instead, for example, ETFS Physical Gold (PHAU) and iShares Physical Gold (SGLN) both track physical gold. The VanEck Vectors Gold Miners ETF invests directly in mining companies.

Alternatively, BlackRock Gold & General seeks to achieve long-term capital growth primarily through an actively managed portfolio of gold mining, commodity and precious-metal related shares. Its largest portfolio holdings include gold miners Newcrest Mining, Barrick Gold Corp, Agnico Eagle Mines and the NewMont Goldcorp.

Brave investors could take on the added risk of buying individual gold mining stocks, many of which have performed wonderfully well lately.

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However, buying individual equities like these is highly risky, as their share prices can crash just as quickly, which isn't what what you want from a supposedly safe haven.

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More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
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Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions

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Pay varies significantly depending on the school, its rating and the curriculum. Here's a rough guide as of January 2021:

- top end schools tend to pay Dh16,000-17,000 a month - plus a monthly housing allowance of up to Dh6,000. These tend to be British curriculum schools rated 'outstanding' or 'very good', followed by American schools

- average salary across curriculums and skill levels is about Dh10,000, recruiters say

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- some strong performing schools have cut back on salaries since the pandemic began, sometimes offering Dh16,000 including the housing allowance, which reflects the slump in rental costs, and sheer demand for jobs

- maths and science teachers are most in demand and some schools will pay up to Dh3,000 more than other teachers in recognition of their technical skills

- at the other end of the market, teachers in some Indian schools, where fees are lower and competition among applicants is intense, can be paid as low as Dh3,000 per month

- in Indian schools, it has also become common for teachers to share residential accommodation, living in a block with colleagues

How the UAE gratuity payment is calculated now

Employees leaving an organisation are entitled to an end-of-service gratuity after completing at least one year of service.

The tenure is calculated on the number of days worked and does not include lengthy leave periods, such as a sabbatical. If you have worked for a company between one and five years, you are paid 21 days of pay based on your final basic salary. After five years, however, you are entitled to 30 days of pay. The total lump sum you receive is based on the duration of your employment.

1. For those who have worked between one and five years, on a basic salary of Dh10,000 (calculation based on 30 days):

a. Dh10,000 ÷ 30 = Dh333.33. Your daily wage is Dh333.33

b. Dh333.33 x 21 = Dh7,000. So 21 days salary equates to Dh7,000 in gratuity entitlement for each year of service. Multiply this figure for every year of service up to five years.

2. For those who have worked more than five years

c. 333.33 x 30 = Dh10,000. So 30 days’ salary is Dh10,000 in gratuity entitlement for each year of service.

Note: The maximum figure cannot exceed two years total salary figure.

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Day 2 at Mount Maunganui

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Williamson 51, S Curran 2-28

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The Africa Institute 101

Housed on the same site as the original Africa Hall, which first hosted an Arab-African Symposium in 1976, the newly renovated building will be home to a think tank and postgraduate studies hub (it will offer master’s and PhD programmes). The centre will focus on both the historical and contemporary links between Africa and the Gulf, and will serve as a meeting place for conferences, symposia, lectures, film screenings, plays, musical performances and more. In fact, today it is hosting a symposium – 5-plus-1: Rethinking Abstraction that will look at the six decades of Frank Bowling’s career, as well as those of his contemporaries that invested social, cultural and personal meaning into abstraction. 

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5. Zakat 

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