An American Muslim man was sentenced Wednesday to 30 years in prison for
joining al-Qaida and plotting to assassinate President Bush.
President Bush waves
as he boards Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House on Wednesday,
March 29, 2006 in Washington. Bush is traveling to Cancun, Mexico.
[AP] |
Prosecutors had asked for the maximum ¡ª a life sentence ¡ª for Ahmed Omar Abu
Ali, a 25-year-old U.S. citizen who was born to a Jordanian father and raised in
Falls Church, Va.
"The facts of this case are still astonishing," prosecutor David Laufman
said. "Barely a year after Sept. 11 the defendant joined the organization
responsible for 3,000 deaths."
But U.S. District Judge Gerald Bruce Lee said 30 years was sufficient
punishment. He compared the Abu Ali case to "American Taliban" John Walker
Lindh, who received a 20-year sentence.
Abu Ali's actions "did not result in one single actual victim. That fact must
be taken into account," the judge said.
Abu Ali, wearing a green prison jumpsuit, declined to speak before his
sentence was imposed. Defense lawyers said they plan to appeal.
Prosecutors said Abu Ali traveled to Saudi Arabia and joined al-Qaida out of
hatred for the United States. The Saudis arrested Abu Ali in June 2003 as he was
taking final exams at the Islamic University of Medina.
Ali was convicted in November of conspiracy to assassinate the president,
conspiracy to hijack aircraft and providing support to al-Qaida, among other
crimes. The charges carried a mandatory sentence of at least 20 years behind
bars.
Abu Ali gave the Saudis a statement in which he said that he joined al-Qaida
and discussed with some of the most senior al-Qaida members terror plots,
including Bush's assassination, and plans to establish an al-Qaida terror cell
in the U.S.
He claimed that the Saudis had extracted a confession from him through
torture. Prosecutors denied he was mistreated.
Abu Ali said he had the scars on his back that proved he was whipped or
beaten by the Saudis. Pictures were taken of his back, and doctors for both the
government and the defense examined him, coming to different conclusions.
The jury in the three-week trial saw a videotaped confession Abu Ali gave to
the Saudis in which he said he joined al-Qaida because he hated the United
States for its support of Israel.
In February, defense lawyers asked for a review of the conviction in light of
the disclosure that the Bush administration had eavesdropped on suspected
terrorists' conversations without search warrants. Abu Ali's lawyers said they
suspected, but had no firm evidence, that Abu Ali had been a target of the
surveillance program.
The government's response was not made public, but the judge decided to go
ahead with the sentencing after receiving it.
