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Radical Cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri Sentenced to Life in Prison

"I do believe there's another side of you, a side that this court views as evil," the judge said in sentencing the one-eyed, handless imam.
Photo via US Department of Justice/AP

A one-eyed, handless radical Egyptian-born cleric, convicted of federal terrorism charges in Manhattan last May for his role in a 1998 hostage plot in Yemen, was sentenced to life in prison Friday.

Mustafa Kamel Mustafa, also known as Abu Hamza al-Masri, will serve out his sentence at a federal supermax prison in Colorado, sometimes referred to as the Alcatraz of the Rockies, where some of the world's most notorious convicted terrorists are imprisoned and held in solitary confinement.

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US District Judge Katherine Forrest did not entertain requests from Abu Hamza's attorneys that the imam be sent to a lower security prison because of his deteriorating health. At his sentencing, Abu Hamza's lawyers displayed one of the cleric's prosthetic limbs, recently outfitted with a combination spoon/fork to allow him to eat. His hands were blown off during a Pakistani army explosives experiment in 1993.

Abu Hamza insisted he was innocent. But Forrest, who called the cleric's crimes "barbaric" and "unacceptable in a civilized society," was not swayed.

"I do believe there's another side of you, a side that this court views as evil," Forrest said upon sentencing Abu Hamza. "I don't believe that the world would be a safe place with you in 10 years or 20 years."

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Hamza's attorneys also reminded the judge that sending the 56-year-old to a supermax facility would violate assurances the United States made to judges in the UK in 2012 in order to secure Abu Hamza's extradition to the US. But federal prosecutors, in court papers Friday, said no such promises were ever made.

Abu Hamza, a father of nine and an engineer by training, was convicted of providing material support to al Qaeda; participating in a hostage plot in 1998 in Yemen that lead to the deaths of four Western tourists; conspiring to establish a terrorism training camp in Bly, Oregon; and sending one of his followers to train and fight with al Qaeda in Afghanistan in 2000.

British authorities arrested Abu Hamza, who was known for his fiery sermons at the Finsbury Park Mosque in London, in 2004 after the US requested his extradition. He was convicted of a broad range of crimes in the UK in 2006 and spent eight years fighting his extradition to the US.

"Abu Hamza's blood-soaked journey from cleric to convict, from Imam to inmate, is now complete," said Preet Bharara, US Attorney for the Southern District of New York. "After years of fighting extradition, Abu Hamza finally faced justice, as all those who engage in terrorism against innocent civilians must, here in the US, and all around the globe, as the terrible events in Paris remind us."

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Follow Jason Leopold on Twitter: @JasonLeopold