Via Express:

Hate preacher Abu Hamza was ­officially charged as a terrorist ­yesterday in a US court where he refused to stand for the judge.

His lawyer claimed Hamza would have difficulty rising from his seat because he did not have the use of prosthetic hands, after his infamous hooks were removed. He had no difficulty standing later to leave court.

His lawyer said Hamza was experiencing “a hard time” in jail amid reports that he has to drink liquid food through a straw.

There is now a legal debate about whether he will receive £10,000 rubber hands at US taxpayers’ expense.

When asked if his client was happy or unhappy to have left Britain, his court-appointed lawyer Jeremy Schneider said: “Happy? He’s in jail!”

After the 30-minute hearing, Hamza returned to high-security custody in Manhattan, where terrorist suspects are kept in “a jail within a jail”.

Hamza was limping slightly and looked haggard but was not shackled as he made his second appearance in the federal court in New York. He was extradited to the US from Britain in the early hours of Saturday after an eight-year legal battle.

Presiding District Judge Katherine Forrest asked Hamza if it was his intention to plead not guilty to the charges against him. “Yes it is,” he told her.