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| Handless cleric awaiting terror trial in New York gets prosthetics | |
| 2013-03-16 | |
| The jail holding Abu Hamza al-Masri, the handless Islamic cleric awaiting trial on U.S. terrorism charges, provided him with a new set of prosthetics on Friday, officials said at a hearing on Friday. His attorneys had been asking for the new limbs for months, after authorities refused to allow him to wear his usual metal hooks outside of his jail cell.
Al-Masri is being held in the Metropolitan Correctional Center next door to the courthouse in lower Manhattan. The Egyptian-born, white-haired preacher appeared in court on Friday without any prosthetics. In another accommodation, al-Masri, who is also missing an eye, will have access to a laptop computer to review evidence in his cell, Forrest said Friday. Forrest said the accommodation is being made in part because much of the evidence is in Arabic. Al-Masri will have access to the computer at all times except for when it is charging, Lewis said after the hearing. It does not have Internet access, she said. Al-Masri will also be able to speak with his family by telephone on March 18, Forrest said. Lewis said after the hearing that he is only allowed to speak to his immediate family. Although pleased with the accommodations, Lewis told Forrest that al-Masri still had other needs, including a change of sheets more often. After the hearing, Lewis explained he needs a daily change of bedding because of a medical condition. Most inmates at the MCC get clean sheets once a week, she said. Al-Masri, who has asked to be referred to in court by his birth name, Mustafa Kamel Mustafa, has pleaded not guilty to 11 criminal charges. His trial was recently pushed back to March 31, 2014, at the request of his attorneys, who cited voluminous evidence they need to sort through. | |
| Posted by:Beavis |
| #1 Hand Embargo they work! |
| Posted by: Snise Cruter2274 2013-03-16 23:26 |