US

Convicted Bin Laden Accomplice Released Weeks Early From Prison Due To ‘Obesity And Somewhat Advanced Age,’ Judge Says

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A former aid to Osama bin Laden was released from prison by a Manhattan federal judge who ruled that COVID-19 was a more significant threat to him because he is obese, the New York Post reported Friday.

Adel Abdel Bary, 60, was convicted in two al Qaida bombings of US embassies in Africa that killed over 220 people in 1998, the Post reported. He was detained for 21 years at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in New Jersey before his early release on Oct. 9, he was taken into custody.

“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 ruled, the Post reported.

NEW: Adel Abdel Bary, convicted of conspiring with Al Qaeda in the 1998 bombings of two U.S. embassies in East Africa, has been sent to Britain after completing his prison sentence, ICE announced. Here’s our recent story: https://t.co/xFTnM2vdOT https://t.co/wM7CbE6Ai6

— Benjamin Weiser (@BenWeiserNYT) December 10, 2020

Bary was scheduled to be released on Oct. 28, his attorney’s presented his weight of 230 pounds, age and preexisting condition of asthma as reasons he should be freed early, the Post reported.

“Mr. Bary’s continued incarceration now significantly increases his risk of infection, which could wreak disastrous health outcomes,” Bary’s lawyer said, the Post reported.

Prosecutors conceded that Bary’s body mass index of 36 makes him more susceptible to COVID-19, the Post reported.

“The defendant’s obesity is an extraordinary and compelling reason that could justify a reduction of his sentence in light of the current pandemic,” prosecutors said, the Post reported.

Bary returned to the UK to be with his wife since he was granted asylum there in 1997, just two years before his arrest, the Post reported. He was sentenced to 25 years in 2015, though the time he spent incarcerated in Britain counted towards his sentence.