Hamza can’t hack Rocky Mountain ways
Radical cleric seeks release from tough Colorado super prison as it leaves him feeling ‘stressed’
SIX years ago, we were assured we’d never see his ugly face again. Even more comforting was that we’d never have to deal with his much uglier hate-filled views. But now hate preacher Abu Hamza is determined to come back to Britain, so much so he’s begging America, which caged him for life, to grant him “compassionate” release. When New York Judge Katherine Forrest jailed the cleric in 2015, the States did something the British courts failed to do – keep him locked up. In sentencing, she said: “Any time he is released, the world will not be a safe place... He has not shown any remorse.”
For years, UK justice failed the public in allowing Hamza to preach his hate on our streets as he helped fuel a generation of wannabe terrorists. He even set in motion plans to build a terror training camp in Oregon, where his deluded followers would be schooled in how best to commit jihad. Hamza’s freedom, of course, was aided by the European Courts.
Now the former nightclub bouncer, who wears prosthetic arms, is whingeing from his Colorado jail cell about the conditions he finds himself in, moaning he is deprived of his hand hooks and a lack of halal food. As a result, he says he is having to tear open packets of food with his rotting teeth while being kept from seeing sunlight. He has also complained about how his toenails were left unclipped for 14 months, causing him “severe pain and difficulty walking”. In protest, he went on a hunger strike for 10 whole days. Forgive me if I feel no sympathy. Here is a man whose message of violence was relayed to three of the July 7 London suicide bombers and countless others swayed by his murderous influence. In 2015, the 63-year-old was told he would die behind bars after being sentenced to life in a US prison. Judge Forrest said he would never be freed again after being found guilty of 11 terrorism and kidnapping charges.
Now, warders at America’s tou toughest supermax prison, wh where he is being held, have sup supplied Hamza’a lawyers with hi his medical records as part of his bid for freedom.
If a court grants his freedom, nothing will stop him from returning to the UK.
His legal team argues he should leave solitary confinement at ADX Florence – nicknamed the Alcatraz of the Rockies – as he suffers from “stress and anxiety”. Hamza’s lawyers believe there are “extraordinary or compelling circumstances which could not reasonably have been foreseen by the court at the time of sentencing”. What circumstance could there possibly be to have this monster let out anywhere, let alone returned to the UK? Compassionate release? Where was his compassion for the British citizens he preached hate against while collecting thousands of pounds in state handouts, paid for by their taxes? Much like his teeth, I hope that he rots in his cell until the day he dies.
If a court grants his freedom, nothing will stop him from returning to the UK