NY defense lawyers seek leniency for London cleric

NEW YORK (AP) — An Islamic cleric convicted of terrorism charges should be sent to a prison medical facility because of severe disabilities instead of spending life in prison at a high-security federal prison in Colorado, according to his lawyers.

Attorneys for Mustafa Kamel Mustafa say that by sentencing him to life at the prison, the United States would be reneging on assurances to judges in the United Kingdom regarding the Egyptian man, who lived in London, to secure his 2012 extradition to America.

Federal prosecutors on Friday disputed that assertion.

Mustafa, 56, was convicted in May of aiding terrorists who kidnapped tourists in Yemen in 1998 and others who plotted to open a terror training camp in Oregon. Federal sentencing guidelines call for a life sentence.

In court papers last week, Mustafa’s attorneys said he would face unconstitutional cruel and unusual punishment if his amputated forearms, psoriasis, diabetes and high blood pressure weren’t taken into account at his Jan. 9 sentencing in Manhattan federal court. They recommended a prison term of less than life.

While acknowledging that their client had been convicted of participating in “terrible crimes,” defense lawyers said Mustafa’s failure to successfully challenge extradition to the United States while incarcerated in England from 2004 to 2012 was “directly attributable” to sworn statements, concessions and promises made by the United States government during extradition proceedings.

Prosecutors responded in court papers Friday that the government never promised the United Kingdom that Mustafa, also known as Abu Hamza al-Masri, would not be assigned to the prison.

Prosecutors also insisted life in prison was the only appropriate sentence, saying Mustafa “waged a global war of jihad against those that he considered infidels. He sent men to American soil to learn how to fight and kill in support of that war.”

They also submitted a letter Friday from Jeffery D. Allen, chief of health programs for the Federal Bureau of Prisons, who wrote that Mustafa will be given a full medical evaluation at a medical center and assessed by a prosthetic specialist after he is sentenced.

Allen said there are special cells for those with disabilities and if the prison would not address Mustafa’s health needs, he would be moved to a prison medical care facility.

Defense lawyers told the judge Mustafa is unable to accomplish routine daily living tasks and is at risk of infection and amputation.

Copyright 2015 The Associated Press.