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Photo: The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

In this courtroom drawing, defense attorneys Sabrina Shroff and Jerrod Thompson Hicks represent accused terrorist Abu Hamza al- Masri, center, before Magistrate Judge Franklin Maas in Manhattan federal court in New York on Saturday, Oct. 6, 2012. (AP Photo/Elizabeth Williams)

An extremist Egyptian-born preacher entered a U.S. courtroom Saturday for the first time to face multiple terrorism charges, complaining that his prosthetic hooks, medication and special shoes were taken away from him.

The preacher was one of five terror defendants rounded up in Britain and extradited overnight to the U.S.

Abu Hamza al-Masri was surrounded by several marshals in a Manhattan courtroom as he faced charges he conspired with Seattle men to set up a terrorist training camp in Oregon and helped abduct 16 hostages, two of them American tourists, in Yemen in 1998.

The 54-year-old, white-haired Al-Masri exposed both of his arms through his short-sleeved prison shirt.

His court-appointed lawyer, Sabrina Shroff, asked that al-Masri, indicted under the name Mustafa Kamel Mustafa, have his prosthetics immediately returned "so he can use his arms."

In the 1990s, al-Masri turned London's Finsbury Park Mosque into a training ground for extremist Islamists, attracting men including Sept. 11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui and "shoe bomber" Richard Reid.

Al-Masri, jailed since 2004 in Britain on separate charges, was flown overnight to New York from London along with four others accused of U.S. embassy bombings in Africa and with helping terror operations in Afghanistan and Chechnya. The men, who could all face life in prison, have been battling extradition for between eight to 14 years.

U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara called the extraditions "a watershed moment in our nation's efforts to eradicate terrorism."

"As is charged, these are men who were at the nerve centres of al-Qaida's acts of terror, and they caused blood to be shed, lives to be lost, and families to be shattered."

In New York's federal court, Khaled al-Fawwaz and Adel Abdul Bary, entered not guilty pleas to charges that they participated in the bombings of embassies in Tanzania and Kenya in 1998. The attacks killed 224 people, including 12 Americans. They were indicted in a case that also charged Osama bin Laden.

In New Haven, Conn., Syed Talha Ahsan, 33, and Babar Ahmad, 38, entered not guilty pleas to charges that they provided terrorists in Afghanistan and Chechnya with cash, recruits and equipment.

Al-Masri, a one-time nightclub bouncer, entered no plea, saying only "I do" when he was asked by U.S. Magistrate Judge Frank Maas whether he swears that his financial affidavit used to determine if he qualifies for a court-appointed lawyer was correct.

Shroff told Maas that al-Masri needed use of his arms. "Otherwise, he will not be able to function in a civilized manner."

She also asked for a dictating machine, saying he can't take notes, the return of his diabetes medication and special shoes that prevent him from slipping. She said he will need a special diet and a full medical evaluation in prison.

Some lawyers and lawmakers have expressed concerns because Britain agreed to extradite the London computer expert even though his alleged crimes were committed in Britain; British courts declined to prosecute him for lack of evidence. Ahmad and Ahsan are accused of running websites to support Afghanistan's ousted Taliban regime, Chechen rebels and associated terrorist groups.

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Christoffersen reported from New Haven, Conn. Associated Press writers Jill Lawless and Sylvia Hui in London contributed to this report.