Metro

Still off the hook

He still can’t get a grip.

The taxpayer-funded purchase of new prosthetic devices for a handless, hate-spewing Islamic preacher appears to be on hold, one of his lawyers said yesterday.

Abu Hamza al-Masri underwent an initial fitting last month to replace the infamous metal hooks that were yanked off his forearm stumps as a security risk following his extradition from Great Britain in October.

But the supplier hasn’t been back for follow-up fittings because the Bureau of Prisons adopted a new vendor system this year and the supplier is worried about getting paid, defense lawyer Lindsay Lewis said.

“I think if there wasn’t a cost issue, this wouldn’t be an issue at all,” she said following a Manhattan federal court conference.

Lawyers for al-Masri have complained that he must struggle to feed and clean himself with his hooks, which he’s allowed to wear only in his cell until he gets less-dangerous models.