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Once notorious for his incendiary sermons that inspired many young jihadists, Abu Hamza al-Masri was a well-known hate preacher in the Western world. His distinctive appearance, with a prosthetic hook and a single functioning eye, made him a memorable figure.
Today, however, Abu Hamza’s circumstances have drastically changed. The former imam, who is missing both hands, now spends 23 hours a day confined to a small 12-by-7-foot cell in one of America’s most secure prisons.
Lacking basic hygiene facilities, he struggles to clean himself after using the metal toilet due to the absence of a bidet.
As a result of these harsh conditions, his stumps have become infected, and he is gradually losing vision in his one remaining eye.
Additionally, without the ability to hold a toothbrush, his dental health has deteriorated, leading to severe tooth decay and loss.
In his decrepit state the jihadist, who once expressed his ‘love’ for Osama bin Laden, is now begging for compassionate release.
Abu Hamza addressing a rally in Trafalgar Square, London in 2002
Hamza, 67, was convicted and jailed for life in 2015 in New York over his role in the 1998 kidnapping in Yemen of 16 tourists, of whom four died.
He was also convicted of conspiring to set up a militant training camp in Oregon, and providing material support to Bin Laden’s network.
Since then, he has been in solitary confinement at the ADX Florence ‘Supermax’ jail in Colorado – known as the ‘Alcatraz of the Rockies.’
Fellow inmates include Mexican drug lord El Chapo, Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, and the ‘shoe bomber’ Richard Reid.
Hamza was denied compassionate release, or a reduction in his sentence, by a U.S. District Court in March
His lawyers have now lodged a new 81-page appeal against that ruling, filed under his real name Mustafa Kamel Mustafa.
In it they detail how has been subject to Special Administrative Measures which mean he can only communicate with them and, when recorded, certain members of his immediate family..
Hamza has filed his latest appeal seeking compassionate release
In the appeal they claim he has been kept in a cell ‘designed for a person confined to a wheelchair rather than a person who can walk but has no hands.’
‘His stumps are sore and infected from the sharp edges of his faucets, he is unable to clean himself after bowel movements when placed in a cell which does not have a bidet,’ the appeal says.
‘He is not permitted an electric toothbrush, which has resulted in such substantial tooth decay and the need for dental implants.’
The document said he relies on his teeth to open meals and perform daily tasks.
‘He is now also going blind in his second eye, likewise with inadequate treatment,’ it said.
The appeal details how, earlier this year, Hamza went on hunger strike after a new warden moved him from cell 511 to cell 300
‘It (cell 300) does not have, for example, a toilet for his disability so (he) is unable to properly clean himself, or a nurse or aide to assist in personal hygiene,’ the appeal said.
‘In response to his hunger strike, he was ultimately returned to cell 511 but was sanctioned by ADX to a lengthy loss of non-legal telephone privileges, meaning that he will not be allowed to speak with any member of his family again until late-January 2026, at the earliest.’
The appeal also cites the European Convention on Human Rights.
It was claimed that had the European Court of Human Rights known he was going to serve his sentence under such conditions at the Supermax, he would never have been extradited from the U.K. to face trial over a decade ago.
In March, Judge Analisa Torresto rejected Hamza’s bid for compassionate release, or a reduction in sentence, saying she was not convinced there had been a ‘change of heart’ since his terror offences.
She also said Hamza would likely continue to ‘support and inspire others to acts of violence’ if released.
Hamza’s lawyers had asked the court to modify his sentence to time-served plus a five-year term of supervised release,
Hamza is held at the Supermax facility outside Florence, Colorado
Abu Hamza claims his stumps are infected and he is ‘unable to properly clean himself’
His wife, Najat Chaffe, submitted a letter to the court, saying: ‘Our family has been deeply distressed by his absence, as he has left an irreplaceable void that no one can fill.
‘The yearning to have him back in our lives has only intensified over time, and his grandchildren, myself, and our children have missed him dearly.’
Hamza was sentenced to life in 2015 after being convicted over the 1998 kidnapping of Western tourists in Yemen that left four hostages dead.
Jurors found him guilty of providing a satellite phone and advice to the kidnappers.
He was also convicted of sending two followers to Oregon to establish a militant training camp, and dispatching an associate to Afghanistan to aid Al Qaeda and the Taliban.
A cell at the Supermax in which inmates spend 23 hours a day, complete with concrete bed and stool
A Daily Mail graphic of a Supermax cell. The cell has been specially designed to minimize the chances of an inmate being able to die by suicide
He had previously gained notoriety for his incendiary sermons as the imam of the Finsbury Park Mosque in London, which he gave while wearing a prosthetic hook..
U.S. and U.K. authorities said he helped inspire a generation of militants including Reid, the would-be shoe bomber.
Prior to his 2012 extradition, Hamza had spent eight years in prison in the U.K. for inciting violence.
At his trial in New York a decade ago he spoke of his ‘love’ for Bin Laden.
He claimed in court that he lost his hands in an accidental explosion handling liquid explosives for the Pakistani military while working as an engineer in Lahore.
That contradicted rumors he had lost them while fighting in Afghanistan in the 1980s.
At his trial and sentencing the judge cited instances in which he had justified killing non-Muslims and praised the September 11, 2001, attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people.
At the time, then Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said: ‘Abu Hamza’s blood-soaked journey from cleric to convict, from imam to inmate, is now complete.’
Abu Hamza at his trial in New York in 2014
Abu Hamza arrives with a masked bodyguard to conduct Friday prayers in the street outside Finsbury Park Mosque in London in 2012
The Supermax, where he is held, currently has 375 inmates and they include some of the world’s most infamous.
Along with El Chapo, Tsarnaev and Reid, it is home to 9/11 plotter Zacarias Moussaoui, and World Trade Center bomber Ramzi Yousef.
Recently, President Donald Trump decided to move 37 federal prisoners, who were originally sentenced to death, to the Supermax.
Shortly before President Joe Biden left office, he commuted those men’s sentences to life in jail without possibility of parole.
El Chapo is kept in the bowels of the complex in the most ultra security area known as Range 13.
Unlike in other prisons, inmates cannot communicate with others across the hall.
Each is placed in a cell which has a sliding electrical metal door with a four-inch slit for guards to look through. Four feet beyond the door is a barred solitary cell.
Their seven-by-12-foot cell has a cement bed and fittings designed in a way that makes it impossible for inmates to hang themselves.
They are in there for 23 hours a day, and have one hour of recreation.
Before the recreation hour, inmates are strip searched, shackled and taken to a yard designed so they can only see the sky, not the world around them.
In the yard, each person is put in a separate cage – about 20 by 20 feet – to exercise.
