HANDED OVER: Hooked imam Abu Hamza al-Masri was transported by British authorities yesterday to US custody. (AP)
Hand it over!
Hate preacher Abu Hamza al-Masri was without his infamous hook during his first US court appearance in Manhattan today.
That led his lawyer to gripe that prison officials’ decision to remove his metal hook was, well, off the hook.
“Mr. Mustafa would appreciate if the Bureau of Prisons would return to him his prosthetics so he can use his arms,” said the suspect’s attorney, Sabrina Shroff, using the newly extradited cleric’s given name.
Shroff listed several other demands on behalf of her client, who is charged with 11 crimes — including setting up a terrorist training camp in Oregon, helping to plan a 1998 Yemen kidnapping and facilitating jihad in Afghanistan.
One of al Masri’s demands is for a dictating machine. “He needs a dictating machine because he can’t take notes,” Shroff explained.
The 54-year-old hatemonger, who sat during the 13-minute appearance with his reddish arm stumps exposed, also requires special shoes, and special diet and exercise to control his diabetes, she said.
“To the extent that Mr. Mustafa does not receive his prosthetics immediately, he will need someone to help with the care of his daily needs,” she said. “I ask that the Bureau of Prisons attend to that immediately otherwise he will not be able to function in a civilized manner.”
British citizen Al-Masri purportedly lost both his hands and one eye while fighting during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan.
Dressed in blue scrubs with an orange undershirt — the mark of a high-risk inmate housed in the Metropolitan Correctional Center’s “terror wing” – Al-Masri kept his head down as the US Magistrate Judge Frank Maas reeled off the charges against him.
He appeared in court with a long white beard, short white hair and reading glasses perched on the edge of his nose.
Al-Masri spoke only once, when the judge asked him if he swore by his financial statement.
“I do,” he said.
Outside of court, Shroff said that her client — who’s coming off a prison term in Britain on charges if inciting racial hatred and encouraging his followers to kill non-Muslims — has good manners.
“He seemed very much of a gentleman,” she said.
The one-eyed cleric and former nightclub bouncer will be arraigned on terror charges on Tuesday morning.
He and four other jihadists arrived on US soil early this morning after being extradited from Britain.
British Prime Minister David Cameron was glad to see him go.
“I’m absolutely delighted that Abu Hamza is now out of this country,” Cameron said. “Like the rest of the public I’m sick to the back teeth of people who come here, threaten our country, who stay at vast expense to the taxpayer and we can’t get rid of them.”
“I’m delighted on this occasion we’ve managed to send this person off to a country where he will face justice,” he added.
Two other terror suspects appeared in court on charges related to the 1998 al Qaeda bombings of US embassies that killed 224 people.
Adel Abdul Bary, 52, pleaded not guilty through his lawyer. When the judge asked if that was his plea, he said “yes.”
Khalil al-Fawwaz, 50, also pleaded not guilty.
Both were held without bail, pending court appearances Tuesday.
The other alleged terrorists extradited with them, Babar Hamad and Syed Talha Ahsan, pleaded not guilty in federal district court in Connecticut earlier Saturday. They are jailed until trial.
With Post Wires