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'Evil' Cleric Abu Hamza Sentenced To Life

'Evil' Cleric Abu Hamza Sentenced To Life

A New York judge has told radical preacher Abu Hamza he is "evil" as she sentenced him to life in prison for supporting terrorist organisations.

The 56-year-old was found guilty of 11 charges last May , including a plot to establish an al Qaeda training camp in the US state of Oregon.

He was also convicted of providing a satellite phone and advice to Yemeni militants who kidnapped Western tourists in 1998.

Judge Katherine Forrest told Hamza: "Evil comes in many forms but doesn't always show itself immediately in all its darkness...

"There is a side of you which this court believes is evil."

The judge said his actions were "barbaric, misguided and wrong".

Sky News' Hannah Thomas-Peter, who was at Friday's hearing, said Hamza addressed the Manhattan court shortly before learning his fate.

He said even a lenient sentence would "consume the rest of his life", and pleaded to be kept in a medical facility.

Hamza, who wore blue prison clothes, asked the court that his incarceration not be a "back door for a slow-motion crucifixion, not a back door for torture".

He also complained about his last two-and-a-half years in a Manhattan holding prison.

"I've been coerced to do things no disabled should be asked to do," he said.

"This is torture. When the cuts happen, when the pain happens, when the stress happens."

Hamza finished by pleading in the courtroom, just a few blocks from Ground Zero, that "the victims of all wars get together ... and investigate how the (Twin) Towers collapsed".

He said he wanted "victims of all this false intelligence to see their day in court".

Throughout the hearing, Hamza had access to a prosthetic with a pen attachment for making notes, which he seldom wore.

Manhattan prosecutor Preet Bharara issued a statement on the sentencing that made reference to the jihadist attacks in France .

"Abu Hamza's blood-soaked journey from cleric to convict, from imam to inmate, is now complete," he said.

Hamza's lawyers said their client's toenails were not cut for nine weeks, causing them grow painfully into his skin.

His legal team have argued he is too disabled to spend life in a high-security jail.

They say the court should consider Hamza's disabilities - including his amputated forearms, psoriasis, diabetes and high blood pressure.

UK Home Secretary Theresa May said on Friday: "His sentence reflects the severity of his crimes and I am pleased he will spend the rest of his life behind bars where he belongs."

In the 1990s Hamza led London’s Finsbury Park Mosque, which was reportedly attended by 9/11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui and shoe-bomber Richard Reid.

Hamza denied ever having met the pair.

He later spread violent messages at the mosque after the 9/11 attacks.

Hamza was jailed in Britain for seven years for soliciting murder and inciting racial hatred in 2006.