First, Ramzi Yousef declared war on the United States government, vowing to wage jihad with bombs. Now, the convicted ringleader of the 1993 attack on the World Trade Center has taken his fight to the courtroom.
The terrorist, serving a sentence of life plus 240 years for the explosion that killed six and injured more than 1,000, is suing to bereleased from solitary confinement, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Confining him to a 7-by-11-foot cell for nearly 24 hours a day for the past 15 years, despite a record of good behavior, is unconstitutional, according to documents he submitted in federal court.
The long stretch in solitary with limited interaction with guards and inmates has allegedly caused psychological harm to Yousef, 44.
Federal prison officials isolated Yousef because they deemed him to be a threat to national security even inside the maximum security facility known as the Fortress of the Rockies, CNN said.
"I request an immediate end to my solitary confinement and ask to be in a unit in an open prison environment where inmates are allowed outside their cells for no less than 14 hours a day," Yousef reportedly wrote in confidential papers the L.A. Times obtained. "I have been in solitary confinement in the U.S. since Feb. 8, 1995, with no end in sight."
Yousef, who is ineligible for parole, was also convicted of plotting to assassinate President Bill Clinton and Pope John Paul II and to detonate bombs on 11 international flights to the United States.
His uncle is Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the Al Qaeda member accused of organizing the 9/11 attacks in New York and Washington.
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