LONDON, May 27: Britain arrested radical Muslim scholar Abu Hamza al Masri in a pre-dawn raid on Thursday after the United States sought his extradition on charges of hostage-taking and supporting Al Qaeda.

An 11-count indictment filed by US prosecutors accused him of hostage-taking in a 1998 attack in Yemen that resulted in the deaths of four hostages. Under US law he could face the death penalty.

When asked in a London court if he was willing to go to the United States, Abu Hamza smiled, shook his head and said: "No." Abu Hamza was remanded in custody after bail was refused and will appear in court again on July 23.

In the United States, hostage-taking can carry the death penalty and this could complicate extradition from Britain where capital punishment was abolished 35 years ago. By law, Home Secretary David Blunkett cannot allow extradition without assurances the death penalty will not apply.

But Mr Blunkett said Britain had received such assurances in general terms from Washington. "We have an agreement with the US, which I reaffirmed a year ago, that the death penalty would not be put in place," he told BBC radio. Abu Hamza, 47, faces up to 100 years in prison over the charges.

HATE FIGURE: His arrest occurred as Britain itself was considering detaining Abu Hamza, a hate figure for British tabloids, who has one eye and a steel hook in place of his right hand after being wounded fighting in Afghanistan. -Reuters