Ramzi Yousef got what was coming to him for 1993 WTC bombing

Courts and federal prison officials must keep him in supersolitary confinement

Ramzi Yousef wants out of his prison garb — or at least out of maximum solitary confinement in the Supermax prison in Florence, Colo.

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS - AUGUST 23, 2012,

Ramzi Yousef, who bombed the World Trade Center in 1993, wants out of ultrastrict solitary confinement at the Supermax prison in Florence, Colo.

On Wednesday, his lawyer pressed the matter before a federal appeals panel in New York by arguing that Yousef is no longer a threat.

“I think it’s just plain unfair,” Bernard Kleinman said after the hearing, which dealt with jurisdictional issues that need deciding before a judge can rule on whether Yousef has the right to easier treatment.

Mr. Kleinman, here’s what’s unfair: 1,042 people injured and six murdered, sentences from which there will never be relief.

Yousef must sit, suffer and rot in the hardest of hard time.

Having also also conspired to explode 12 U.S. jetliners in midair, he was was sentenced to two life terms in 1998.

At the time, Yousef said defiantly: “Yes, I am a terrorist, and proud of it as long as it is against the U.S. government and against Israel, because you are more than terrorists; you are the one who invented terrorism and using it every day.”

Now, Kleinman maintains that Yousef is no longer a threat because “most of the terrorists he knew are either dead or in jail.” Thus, he argues, Yousef can be trusted with more company.

Again, sit, suffer and rot.

Imprisoned in a part of the Supermax known as the range, Yousef is the only inmate in his cellblock . He has no contact with other prisoners and barely sees his guards. Meals are delivered through a door slot. His only window shows just a sliver of sky. If he wants to take an hour of exercise — the only time he can leave his cell — he must undergo thorough body searches.

All of which is lenient compared with death.

In 2007, “60 Minutes” reported that some of Yousef’s prison pals had TV privileges. When they saw news of the 9/11 attacks, they cheered. On that broadcast, former warden Robert Hood said of Yousef:

“He has that Charlie Manson look. He just has the eyes. He has some charisma about him. He’s in uniform. But you know that there ’ s a powerful person that you’re looking at.”

He deserved worse than he got, and he will forever more.