MANHATTAN (CN) - An armless, one-eyed imam received a life sentence for his role in a terrorist plot that left four dead, failing to evoke sympathy from the court as he droned on for 10 minutes about his health problems.
Defense counsel ate up most of the three-hour hearing by lobbying for a recommendation that their client, Mustafa Kamel Mustafa, better known as Abu Hamza al-Masri, be confined to a medical facility for the 11 counts of terrorism of which he was convicted in May.
Jurors had found that Mustafa, now 54, provided a satellite phone used in the 1998 hostage-taking of 16 U.S. and British tourists on a caravan in Yemen.
The Islamic Army of Eden, which employed Mustafa as their spokesman, claimed responsibility for the plot, carried out in a bid to free its followers, including Mustafa's stepson, from prison.
When Yemeni soldiers arrived the next day to try to free the hostages, the 20 terrorists armed with AK-47s, used the tourists as human shields, forcing them to stand on an embankment with their arms up while they fired at soldiers from between their legs.
One of the American tourists managed to wrestle an AK-47 from a captor and escape. Killed in the stand-off were Margaret Whitehouse, Peter Rowe, Ruth Williamson and Andrew Thirsk.
U.S. District Judge Katherine Forrest gave Mustafa an opportunity to address the packed courtroom at the Friday morning hearing, time that the Londoner used to maintain his innocence and to complain of minor injuries he allegedly suffers in custody.
"I praise the Almighty," he said. "To Him we all belong. I pray that the Almighty to allow the full truth."
In addition to claiming that he suffers daily cuts while in custody, Mustafa says that the guards destroy most of the letters he writes to his family.
Though he made no apology to the victims of the kidnappings in his 10-minute speech, Mustafa worried about how his incarceration has affected his relatives. "Family is family," he said. "I've been used to torture them. It's unfair."
The diabetic terrorist also predicted that solitary confinement will affect his blood pressure.
"I just want a place where I can function as a prisoner," he said.
Forrest shot down the defense team's request that she recommend Mustafa for placement in a medical facility, saying she would rely on the Bureau of Prisons to assess the terrorist's health and place him accordingly.
"You did not express sympathy or remorse for the victims," Forrest said.
"It's barbaric, it's misguided, it's wrong," she said.
Mustafa, clad in black prison scrubs, nodded after he was sentenced, and walked unescorted out of the courtroom.
U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara praised the outcome after the hearing.
"Abu Hamza's blood-soaked journey from cleric to convict, from Imam to inmate, is now complete," Bharara said in a statement.
The terrorist's four-week trial last year began after he already served time the United Kingdom for hate-speech crimes related to Finsbury Park mosque sermons in which he praised the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
In that capacity, Mustafa once threatened for all non-Muslims, or "infidels," to leave Yemen. Mustafa had warned that any "kaffir," a nonbeliever of Islam, in the "Muslim land" could be taken, captured, enslaved and sold.
