UK cleric found guilty of inciting murder

Court artist's drawing of Abu Hamza al-Masri during his trial

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LONDON, England (CNN) -- Radical cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri has been found guilty by a London jury on several charges, including inciting murder and fomenting racial hatred.

The jury on Tuesday also found al-Masri guilty of possessing a terrorist document.

The Egyptian-born cleric, 47, had faced a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted. He had pleaded not guilty.

His lawyers are expected to appeal the verdict.

During his trial at the Central Criminal Court in central London, known as the Old Bailey, the jury heard recordings of sermons by al-Masri, the former imam at London's Finsbury Park mosque and Britain's best-known Islamist orator, in which they alleged he sought to stir up racial hatred.

But Edward Fitzgerald, al-Masri's defense lawyer, told the jury that although some of what the preacher had said was offensive and "a bit over the top," he was not "intending to incite anybody to do anything specific."

He had said the case against al-Masri, who has no hands and only one eye, was a "rag bag" of allegations.

Judge Anthony Hughes summarized parts of al-Masri's defense to the jury as he directed it to consider a verdict.

"He denies that at any stage did he encourage his listeners to kill anybody or murder anybody," the judge said.

"He told you that he stood by every ideology set out in these speeches. He explained to you the job of the scholar was to understand current events and apply the appropriate Quaranic law, which can never change."

Al-Masri, from west London, faced nine charges under the Offences Against the Person Act 1861 alleging he solicited others at public meetings to murder Jews and other non-Muslims.

He also faced four charges under the Public Order Act of 1986 of "using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behavior with the intention of stirring up racial hatred."

Hamza also faced one charge of possessing threatening, abusive or insulting sound recordings, and another charge under anti-terrorism laws.