Hate preacher Abu Hamza sues US over ‘cruel’ conditions at Supermax jail causing his teeth to ROT
HATE preacher Abu Hamza is suing the US authorities over what he claims are “degrading” prison conditions and his rotting teeth.
The former imam of Finsbury Park, 62, is currently being held in ADX Florence - also known as the "Alcatraz of the Rockies" – and where two members of the so-called Isis “Beatles” kidnap gang could be jailed for life.
Hamza claims he has been deprived of sunlight in his cell and says he has to tear open food packages with his rotting teeth after his hooks were removed by the authorities.
A civil lawsuit has been filed against the US attorney general William Barr with Hamza claiming to suffer from “stress and anxiety” and says he has been denied any family visits since he was extradited to New York to go on trial for terrorist charges in 2012.
At one point, he reveals, he went on a hunger strike for at least 10 days in protest at his treatment, reports.
The supermax jail in Colorado is expected to be the new home of Alexanda Kotey and El Shafee Elsheikh, the London-born Isis members allegedly behind the torture and beheading of British and American hostages in Syria.
ADX Florence has a reputation as one of the US's toughest jails as prisoners are locked up alone for 23 hours a day in 12ft by 7ft cells without windows.
It houses some of the world's most infamous criminals and terrorists, including drug baron El Chapo and shoe bomber Richard Reid.
No one has ever escaped the jail since it was built in the late 1980s, and it is one of the highest security complexes in the world.
Inmates are also subjected to “special administrative measures” which bans contact with others and restricting activities.
Hamza is appealing his incarceration at the facility, saying the “inhuman and degrading” conditions breach his human rights.
Court papers also reveal the former preacher is using the US authorities for damages over a number of alleged wrongdoings.
He says his complaint relates to “cruel and unusual conditions in prolonged, continuous, dangerous solitary confinement since 2012”, the year in which he was extradited to stand trial for supporting al-Qaeda.
He has been at the ADX Florence prison since 2015 after he was convicted and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
He claims that little provision has been made in the jail for his disabilities, which include having no forearms and he is blind in one eye.
Hamza says the first cell he was placed in was, in effect, “a modified large store room” with “no natural light” and measuring 8ft by 16ft.
He also says that because there was no disabled toilet it meant he often soiled his clothes and his arms stumps bled when he turned on the washbasin taps.
Hamza also claims that on one occasion his toenails were not cut for 14 months, which caused him “severe pain and difficulty walking”.
As his hooks have been taken away, Hamza has also claimed he has had to open food packages with his mouth, causing him to loose some teeth.
“Plaintiff lost three teeth just to the opening of pouches,” he writes. “All front teeth are worn out and painful. Some nerves can be seen.”
He also says his time in prison has been “religiously stressful” because he has been forced to switch from a Muslim halal diet to a kosher as the Jewish meals are served on trays that are “easier to eat from”.
Hamza has also claimed he has not been visited by a single family member and is only able to talk to them on the phone for a maximum of 45 minutes a month.
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He says he has been “excluded” from communicating altogether with four of his sons.
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Barr and other defendants accused in Abu Hamza’s lawsuit, including the head of the US prison service, say his action is without merit and should be struck out by the courts.
In a filing earlier this month, they described the complaint as “so ambiguous that [the] defendants cannot reasonably prepare a response”.
