Adel Abdel Bary, convicted in two deadly 1998 bombings, was set free from a prison in New Jersey after a federal judge said the terrorist’s obesity put him at risk of not surviving a potential bout of COVID-19.
According to the New York Post, Bary was freed from prison on Oct. 9 and from an immigration and Customs Enforcement facility on Wednesday. He is now living in the United Kingdom.
The Post noted Bary, 60, spent 21 years behind bars for his role in the 1998 al-Qaida bombings of two U.S. embassies in Africa that killed 12 Americans and 224 others.
He weighs 230-pounds. Bary had been due to be released on Oct. 28.
But U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan granted the early release and said: “Defendant’s obesity and somewhat advanced age make COVID-19 significantly more risky to him than to the average person,”
And prosecutors did concede his body mass index of 36 increased his risks.
“The defendant’s obesity is an extraordinary and compelling reason that could justify a reduction of his sentence in light of the current pandemic,” they wrote.
At one point, Bary was dubbed Osama bin Laden’s spokesman in Europe after sending messages from journalists to the terrorist leader, according to the BBC.
Jeffrey Rodack ✉
Jeffrey Rodack, who has nearly a half century in news as a senior editor and city editor for national and local publications, has covered politics for Newsmax for nearly seven years.
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