3 NY terrorism defendants set for court appearance

NEW YORK (AP) — An Egyptian-born preacher and two men brought from England to New York to face terrorism charges are returning to court.

Abu Hamza al-Masri will appear in federal court in Manhattan Tuesday, three days after complaining that U.S. authorities had taken away a prosthetic hook used in place of missing hands. He will enter a plea to charges that he conspired with Seattle men to set up a terrorist training camp in Oregon and helped abduct 16 hostages in Yemen in 1998. Two others will face the trial judge overseeing the case in a plot to blow up U.S. embassies in Africa.

A U.S. Bureau of Prisons spokeswoman says she can’t discuss specific prisoners but says generally that inmates with prosthetics that could pose a danger cannot keep the same kind.