A New York City detention facility on Friday provided a brand new set of arm-prosthetics to a suspected Muslim terrorist — who is awaiting trial on several charges — thanks to the generosity of American taxpayers.
Muslim cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri, the handless radical Islamist awaiting a jury trial on U.S. terrorism charges, had been informed that a new set of prosthetics would be provided to him after his defense attorneys had been demanding them after the federal criminal court officers refused to allow him to wear his sharp, metal hooks outside of his detention cell.
“Here is another example of misuse of medical equipment,” said retired New York police detective and former Marine intelligence officer Sid Franes. “The government… our government gives a murdering foreign terrorist top-of-the-line prosthetics, yet so many poor Americans need to wait for Obamacare to kick in, or they must use Medicaid or Medicare for a far-less expensive set of new arms or legs,” he said.
The British government had extradited al-Masri from London to New York in October 2012. Abu-Hamza is accused of providing material support to the al-Qaeda terrorist organization when he attempted to build and staff a terrorist training camp in Oregon, in addition to other related criminal charges, according to the FBI.
The 54-year-old Egyptian-born Islamist is being detained in the Metropolitan Correctional Center next door to the courthouse in lower Manhattan. The radical cleric appeared in court on Friday without any prosthetics and kept his limbs hidden in his garment’s pockets.
In addition to the prosethetics, Abu Hamza, who is also missing his left eye, will be given access to a laptop computer in order to his case in his cell, law enforcement officials told Law Enforcement Examiner.
The suspected terrorist’s defense team have argued that the computer is being made available because much of the evidence is in Arabic.
In yet another accommodation, Abu-Hamza is scheduled to speak with his immediate family by telephone on March 18,
The alleged al-Qaeda cleric demanded that prosecutors, attorneys, the judge and everyone else connected with his trial refer to him by his true name, Mustafa Kamel Mustafa.
Abu Hamza al Masri, a naturalized citizen of the United Kingdom, is charged in connection with a hostage-taking in Yemen in 1998 that resulted in four deaths; a conspiracy to establish a terrorist training camp in Bly, Ore., in 1999; and supporting violent jihad in Afghanistan in 2000 and 2001.
Abu Hamza al-Masri has pleaded not guilty to all criminal charges. His trial was recently rescheduled to Mar. 31, 2014, at the request of his attorneys, who cited an enormous amount of evidence and reports they must study before the trial.
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