A federal judge released a convicted terrorist because his obesity puts him at risk of suffering severe complications from COVID-19. Adel Abdel Bary, 60, has spent the past 21 years in a New Jersey prison after being convicted for his role in the 1998 bombings of two U.S. embassies in Africa.
The twin attacks were organized by al Qaeda and killed 224 people, including 12 Americans.
Bary was arrested in 1999 and extradited to the U.S. in 2012 to face trial. He was charged with 285 offenses but agreed to a plea deal and was sentenced to 25 years in prison.
Bary's lawyers argued that the 230-pound terrorists should be freed sooner because his weight, age, and history of asthma put him at greater risk of developing complications from COVID-19.
"Mr. Bary's continued incarceration now significantly increases his risk of infection, which could wreak disastrous health outcomes," his lawyer wrote in court documents.
A federal judge agreed and decided to release Bary from prison.
"Defendant's obesity and somewhat advanced age make COVID-19 significantly more risky to him than to the average person," U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan wrote.
Bary was released and returned to the United Kingdom, where he was reunited with his wife Ragaa, who lives in a $1 million apartment in London. Even though Bary was stripped of his U.K. citizenship, officials could not block him from entering the country because he was granted asylum in 1997, two years before he was arrested for his role in the terrorist attacks.
"His return remains a huge headache for the Home Secretary. She is intent on ridding the country of threats, but here's a notorious terrorist dumped right on her doorstep," a security source told The Sun.
Photo: Getty Images