Hamza has been in solitary confinement at the ADX in Florence, in the supermax prison, since 2015; prison in the Colorado desert Photo: Paul Grover
Abu Hamza has filed a new court bid to be released from a maximum security prison in the US, arguing that several bouts of Covid have left him too ill to live in solitary confinement.< /p>
The former imam of Finsbury Park Mosque, 65, was sentenced to life in prison in 2015 after being extradited from the UK on terrorism charges to the US.
He has been in solitary confinement at ADX since then Florence, a supermax prison in the Colorado desert that is considered the safest in the world.
Court documents seen by The Telegraph show Hamza plans to ask a judge for «compassionate release» next month, citing the prison's «draconian conditions.»
In a letter to Analisa Torres, New York District Judge York, Hamza's lawyers said they plan to expedite a planned appeal on compassionate grounds due to the terrorist's poor health.
The appeal, formally known as a motion for commutation, will attempt to move Hamza from solitary confinement to a higher security prison or release him entirely.
“In [Hamza's] motion for commutation, we expect, among other things, a draconian increase the conditions of confinement to which [he] was subjected during his incarceration in ADX Florence,” said Hamza’s lawyer Michael Bachrach.
“The world will not be safe”
He claimed such conditions had «resulted in multiple bouts of Covid-19, severe deterioration in health and 24-hour solitary confinement over the past eight years», adding that they «contradict the applications made by the United States to obtain his extradition from the United Kingdom.»< /p>
Mr. Bachrach said he would file an appeal by October 31 and wait for a response from the US government.
Hamza, who once preached his fundamentalist views at the Finsbury Park mosque, was extradited in 2012 on 11 terrorism charges, including the kidnapping of 16 tourists in Yemen in 1998, aiding terrorists and attempting to set up a terrorist training camp in Oregon. /p>
An attempt to appeal his extradition failed because the European Court of Human Rights ruled that «the conditions in ADX do not amount to ill-treatment.»
At sentencing in New York, the judge Catherine Forrest said Hamza had shown no remorse for his actions and that «the world will not be safe any time he is released.»
She described his actions as «barbaric, wrong and wrong», adding: «It is important to me that you do not express sympathy for the victims of the Yemeni kidnappings.»
Hamza is now being held 23 hours a day in solitary confinement. a cell the size of a garden shed, with no natural light.
«Ineffective assistance»
His signature hooks, which he used after losing his arms in a chemical disaster in Pakistan in 1993, were removed and replaced with plastic prosthetics, including including sporks.
In 2018, he wrote a letter from his cell to then-President Donald Trump, praising his «noble mission» and denouncing Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian interference as a «witch hunt.»
Hamza's first compassionate release offer was argued in August 2020, but was delayed by another ongoing appeal alleging that his trial and appellate lawyers provided him with «ineffective assistance.»
That appeal was delayed to allow more time for consideration of his case for compassionate release in court. judge.
ADX Florence, known as the «Alcatraz of the Rockies,» is currently occupied by 322 prisoners, including Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the Boston Marathon bomber, drug lord El Chapo and a host of spies. and al-Qaeda militants.
It was built in 1994 and previously housed some of the United States' most dangerous criminals, including «Unabomber» Ted Kaczynski and the five men convicted of the World Trade bombing center in 1993. .
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