Osama bin Laden’s henchman is now living in a $1 million mansion in the British capital London with his wife and six children, The Sun reported, without citing any sources. Sputnik was unable to verify the claim. According to the newspaper, Adel Abdel Bary, who was released from prison in December, three weeks earlier than necessary because he was too overweight, now looks like a different man. Photos taken by The Sun show an apparently fit man walking unaided, a far cry from what his lawyers said was an old man suffering from asthma and obesity. The newspaper said last week that he was seen receiving a flat-pack furniture delivery.
Per the newspaper, Scotland Yard wants a notification against him that would allow law enforcement to monitor details of his bank accounts, phone calls, and travel plans. However, a source told The Sun that the convicted terrorist is fighting the move and has hired human rights lawyers.
Why Was the Terrorist Released From Prison and Why Does He Live in Britain?
He pleaded guilty to conspiring to kill Americans as well as to charges related to making threats. Prosecutors said he was responsible for the communication between al-Qaeda and the media. Bary claimed responsibility for terrorist attacks on the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998 on behalf of the terrorist group. He was sentenced in a US court to 25 years in prison, but was released earlier because he received credit for the years he spent in jail in Britain before he was extradited to the United States.
His lawyers asked the judge to release Bary three weeks earlier because he was suffering from obesity, which at the time of the coronavirus pandemic puts his life at increased risk.
"Defendant's obesity and somewhat advanced age make COVID-19 significantly more risky to him than to the average person", US District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan wrote in granting the release.
The judge’s decision caused indignation among relatives of the victims. One woman, who wished to remain anonymous, said she understood why prisoners are granted credit for the time they served before pleading guilty, but noted that "for somebody who’s done something this egregious, where so many people were killed to have the possibility of going out and creating more havoc is actually terrifying".
According to The Telegraph, the reason why bin Laden's henchman returned to Britain is that former UK Prime Minister David Cameron had struck a deal with the United States. Prior to his arrest and prison sentence, Adel Abdel Bary had received political asylum in Britain in the 1990s. An unnamed source told The Telegraph that Cameron's government agreed to take Bary back, because London feared that by revoking his asylum they would breach his rights, as he can't go back to Egypt, which he fled as a political refugee.
The issue here is that Bary cannot go back to Egypt, where he would purportedly likely be tortured and killed as he was previously accused of plotting a terrorist attack on the Khan el-Khalili market in the capital Cairo.
British media reported that Bary will allegedly be granted security monitoring for his safety, which will cost British taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars.
