The lawyers say special administrative measures were imposed about a week ago on Mustafa Kamel Mustafa, who is better known as Abu Hamza al-Masri.
They say that severely limits his communications and what he can read at a federal lockup in Manhattan.
Attorney Lindsay Lewis says the restrictions are more difficult for a defendant who has trouble getting around because he has no hands.
He has pleaded not guilty to conspiring with Seattle men to set up a terrorist training camp in Oregon. He's also accused of helping abduct two American tourists and 14 other people in Yemen in 1998.
Prosecutors did not immediately return a message for comment.
-- The Associated Press