Mustafa Kamel’s Arms: Prosthetic Limbs Considered Potential Deadly Weapons

Terror suspect Mustafa Kamel’s prosthetic arms are considered to be potential deadly weapons by New York’s Metropolitan Correctional Center. According to the Associated Press, prosthetic limb attacks are not uncommon in prisons and jails, leaving authorities no choice but to remove the suspect’s fake arms each and every night. Although it’s unclear how Kamel functions without his limbs, officials say that safety always comes first when dealing with prisoners.

“He has use of them for a certain part of the day but not long enough to allow him to function the way he should function,” Mustafa Kamel’s attorney explained. “As you can well imagine, he’s not happy he’s in a situation like this. He’s having a hard time. He doesn’t have hands.”

Since one of the terror suspect’s arms comes equipped with a hook, authorities at the Metropolitan Correctional Center explained that they have no choice but to remove the prosthetic limbs at the end of the day.

“If an inmate arrives at any of our facilities with a prosthetic that we believe could pose a danger, it would not be permitted inside,” US Bureau of Prisons spokeswoman Traci Billingsley explained. However, in an effort to accommodate Kamel while in custody, he will reportedly receive a new, safer prosthetic in the near future.

According to the Denver Post, Mustafa Kamel, who also goes by the name Abu Hamza al-Masri, pleaded not guilty to charges that he attempted to set up a terrorist training camp in Oregon with several other men. In addition to these allegations, Kamel is also a suspect in the 1998 abduction of two American tourists in Yemen.

Mustafa Kamel is reportedly being held in the same facility where a guard was stabbed in the eye with a sharpened comb by a terror suspect in 2000. Not surprisingly, officials are a little hesitant to give potential dangerously objects to suspects.

Do you think that Mustafa Kamel’s prosthetic arms should be taken away from him while in custody?