Obama's book deemed dangerous for prisoners, could jeopardise national security

London, July 11 (ANI): An American al-Qaeda member, who is serving a 30-year sentence for conspiring to commit various terrorist acts including the murder of then President George W Bush, was banned from reading two books written by Barack Obama, as they were "potentially detrimental to national security."

Ahmed Omar Abu Ali, an inmate at America's most secure federal prison, was informed that specific pages were objectionable, singling out a page in 'Dreams from My Father' and page 22 in 'The Audacity of Hope '.

Abu Ali requested last year before Obama's election to read his biographical 'Dreams from My Father' and the more policy-oriented 'The Audacity of Hope'.

Citing guidance from the FBI, the authorities at the Supermax prison in Florence, Colorado, decided that both books contained information that could jeopardise national security.

Officials mentioned specific pages, but not passages that were objectionable. Half of them were in a chapter devoted to foreign affairs, The Telegraph reports.

Abu Ali later went on hunger strike in protest against his treatment, and prison officials said on Thursday that the books were subsequently deemed appropriate following a review of their contents.

However, evidence of their original ban has been included in court papers relating to Abu Ali's re-sentencing hearing next month.

Joshua Dratel, his lawyer, said the rejection was an example of the harsh conditions imposed on inmates at the Supermax prison.

The rejections, as well as other restrictions on family visits, prompted a hunger strike by Abu Ali that has since ended, according to Dratel.

Inmates at the supposedly impregnable prison are usually kept in their cells in solitary confinement for 22 or 23 hours a day. (ANI)