NEW YORK: An Egyptian imam who led a London mosque more than a dozen years ago was portrayed in opening statements at his terrorism trial as an enthusiastic supporter of Al-Qaeda by a prosecutor and as a reasonable man who helped authorities in England keep people calm by his defense attorney.

The openings Thursday at the trial of Mustafa Kamel Mustafa came only after US District Judge Katherine Forrest in Manhattan turned down a last-minute request by the defendant to deliver his own opening address to the jury.

Assistant US Attorney Edward Kim referred to him by an alias, Abu Hamza, as he labeled him a terrorist, saying he “deployed men to execute his terrorist goals.” He said he supplied satellite phones in 1998 to kidnappers in Yemen who killed four hostages and tried to set up a Bly, Oregon, Al-Qaeda camp in late 1999 and early 2000 before sending at least two men to Afghanistan to train at an Al-Qaeda camp.

Kim said Mustafa tried to rally hundreds of followers at a large London mosque to engage in his “global campaign to spread terror.”

“Abu Hamza was not just a preacher of religion,” Kim said. “He was a trainer of terrorists, and he used the cover of religion so he could hide in plain sight in London.”

But defense attorney Joshua Dratel told jurors his client never harmed Americans and didn’t participate in any acts charged in the case.

“Please keep your eyes on the evidence and not the rhetoric,” Dratel said.