A former Osama bin Laden henchman convicted in two deadly 1998 bombings is free and living in the U.K. this week after being released early — thanks to a Manhattan federal judge who agreed the terrorist was way too obese to survive the coronavirus behind bars.
Adel Abdel Bary, 60, had spent 21 years in a New Jersey prison for his role in the 1998 al Qaeda bombings of two U.S. embassies in Africa that killed 224 people, including 12 Americans.
“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 in granting the release.
Bary had been set to be freed on Oct. 28, but his attorneys asked that he be let out sooner, citing their client’s age, girth and asthma.
“Mr. Bary’s continued incarceration now significantly increases his risk of infection, which could wreak disastrous health outcomes,” his lawyer wrote in court documents.
While prosecutors didn’t agree that Bary’s age made him more at risk to catch COVID-19, they did concede his body mass index of 36 did.
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