Federal judge sentences NYC subway bomb plotter to 30 years in prison News
Federal judge sentences NYC subway bomb plotter to 30 years in prison

[JURIST] A federal judge Monday sentenced a Pakistani man to 30 years in prison after he was convicted [JURIST report] of conspiring to bomb a New York City subway station in retaliation for the abuse of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib [JURIST news archive]. Lawyers for Shahawar Matin Siraj [Wikipedia profile] petitioned the judge to impose a lesser sentence of 10 years, saying he had been entrapped by paid police informant Osama Eldawoody, who showed Siraj pictures of abused prisoners in Iraq and told him there is a religious law that allows the killing of US soldiers and law enforcement. Siraj took the stand and admitted that he did consider places to plant a bomb in the Herald Square subway station, but said he was under the "spell" of Eldawoody who encouraged him to do so.

Despite there being no evidence that Siraj was ever linked to a terrorist group or that he ever actually gathered explosive materials, prosecutors were successful in convincing US District Judge Nina Gershon [FJC profile] that he deserved 30 years in jail. Siraj will be deported after serving his sentence in the US. AP has more.

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