Posted on 04/22/2005 10:37:42 AM PDT by Former Military Chick
LONDON (AP) - A British judge Friday imposed a 13-year prison sentence on a man who admitted conspiring with shoe-bomber Richard Reid to blow up a U.S.-bound trans-Atlantic jet in 2001.
Prosecutors said they believe British-born Saajid Badat, 25, may have backed out of an alleged plot with Reid, who was subdued by passengers when he attempted to detonate a bomb aboard an American Airlines flight from Paris to Miami on Dec. 22, 2001.
``Turning away from crime in circumstances such as these constitutes a powerful mitigating factor,'' Judge Adrian Fulford said. ``It can take considerable courage to plead guilty to offenses of this kind.''
Badat's guilty plea in February was the first major conviction for a terrorist plot in Britain since the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States.
British convicts typically are eligible for parole after serving two-thirds of their sentence, so Badat could be released in a little more than eight years.
Fulford said Badat had been part of a plot to commit a ``wicked and inhuman crime'' that would have killed hundreds of people.
``Sitting in the civilized and muted surroundings of the Old Bailey (courthouse), it is easy to forget exactly what you planned,'' Fulford said.
But the judge said he believed Badat had a genuine change of heart and balanced the need for strong deterrents in terrorism cases with Badat's evident remorse.
Fulford said he hoped the sentence would send a message to others considering terrorism that a decision to turn away from violence would benefit them in court.
Had Badat been convicted at trial without pleading guilty, the judge said he would have recommended a sentence of at least 50 years.
In letters to his parents read in court Friday, Badat said he was disillusioned with Britain.
``I have a sincere desire to sell my soul to Allah in return for paradise,'' he wrote in a letter prosecutors said was found along with explosives at his home.
Prosecutor Richard Horwell said Badat had confessed immediately, telling officers as they drove to the police station: ``I was asked to do a shoe-bombing like Richard Reid.''
He told the police about a green suitcase in his bedroom which contained a fuse and detonator and another suitcase which contained explosives inside a sock.
He reportedly told officers he did not know how to dispose of the items, and added: ``An Arab gave me these things in Afghanistan.''
Defense lawyer Michael Mansfield said the tale of how a ``conscientious, hardworking student'' came to consider mass murder ``is a story of our times.''
Badat's Muslim faith ``in one sense took him to the brink, the very brink of disaster, and at the same time it was same faith that pulled him back,'' Mansfield said.
Mansfield said Badat felt deep remorse and wanted to urge anyone else considering terrorist acts to ``have the courage to turn back and save lives.''
Badat, of Gloucester, England, had been accused of conspiring with Reid, who was convicted in the United States, and with a Belgian man to make the explosive device. Reid was sentenced to life in prison after pleading guilty to U.S. charges.
Horwell said before Badat's plea that he had booked a ticket to fly from Manchester, England, to Amsterdam, Netherlands, in preparation for a flight to the United States on which he planned to detonate his bomb.
``But he did not take that flight. We accept by then he had withdrawn from the conspiracy which by then he had been party to for an appreciable period of time,'' Horwell said.
He said Badat sent an e-mail on Dec. 14, 2001, indicating he might withdraw from the plot.
Horwell said Badat kept the device at his home in Gloucester but had separated the fuse and detonator from the plastic explosive.
Prosecutors had said Badat received training both in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and that while in Afghanistan he was given an explosive device designed to evade airport security and destroy an aircraft in flight.
Badat returned to Britain on Dec. 10, 2001, with the device in his possession. The detonating cords on Reid's device matched the cord on Badat's bomb, prosecutors said.
In October, a U.S. grand jury in Boston charged Badat with attempted murder, trying to destroy an aircraft and other counts related to the alleged conspiracy.
Police said Belgian telephone cards found on Reid were used by Badat to get in touch with Reid's terrorist contact Nizar Trabelsi, who is now in jail in Belgium.
Trabelsi, a Tunisian who played professional soccer for several German teams, was sentenced to the maximum 10 years in prison in 2003. He had admitted planning to drive a car bomb into the canteen of a Belgian air base where U.S. nuclear weapons are believed to be stored.
Acquaintances in Gloucester had described Badat as a quiet, studious young man who had given sermons at a local mosque. His parents reportedly emigrated from Malawi in the 1960s and settled in Gloucester.
British and European courts are more lenient on actual criminals. Of course if you use a weapon to defend your life or property they won't be lenient.
Ah....The Brits....Makes me feel good.. The wimps!!!!They have never defeated a real army, without another country helping them since 1783!
No wonder the Germans beat the crap outta them.
God Bless America!!!!
It was in an English court but 13 years ... it is a travesty.
OH PING
Moussaoui is in the building, I have to wonder what he thought of the sentence of Reid and now Badat.
The pictures on FOX are live showing the huge show of force with dogs, semi automatics and I am sure snipers somewhere.
Not competent .. HA HA
Thats good for Spain. I am surprised that they did not set him free at the rate they have been going.
Was that when we Brits burnt the White House? Just refresh me on that one, please.
You have a point there. Still sickening... (BTW your son is in my thoughts and prayers)
13 Years of British prison food is going to seem a lot longer.
"Ah....The Brits....Makes me feel good.. The wimps!!!!They have never defeated a real army, without another country helping them since 1783! "
Perhaps regarding their regular forces, but I personally would not want to go toe to toe with the SAS. tough Guys. This I know from experience....
Sheeeeeeesh . . getting tired of READING about conspiracies.
I wanna BE a FReeper conspirator !!!
Any co-conspirator FReepers out there ???
Let's get busy conspiring various and sundry lawful methods
to close our borders, retain our language and save our culture !!! ;-))
I hope the Judge at least spoke to him in a stern manner.
I did not know I was part of any Freeper conspiracy club. I happen to think if someone is will to do such violence alone or with someone that they deserve to be locked up.
Espcially if they are guilty.
Thanks for the ping FMC. Yes it is a travesty, but he'll be out of circulation for a while.
Thak you duck duck goose.
I did not know I was part of any Freeper conspiracy club.
=======
Did I say you were part of any Freeper conspiracy club? Or for
that mater, that there is a Freeper conspiracy club?
You sure like to turn my posts upside down and backwards, eh ??? ;-))
Thank God some of those wimps are in Iraq helping us fight the war on terror. Some of those wimps have given their all in this battle as well.
>> I wanna BE a FReeper conspirator !!!
Any co-conspirator FReepers out there ??? <<
Again, I must have misunderstood. BTW, if memory serves, you have posted to my threads and I replied once, and well you can read your reply:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1376759/posts?page=48#48
I do enjoy reading your comments even when I disagree.
WOW! I did it again! Now I am beginning to think I am slowly
developing an age related memory problem. There is no other
excuse for my continuing to post on your threads. Therefore...
I hereby reiterate my former statement, to wit:
I hereby promise that I shall never post anything whatsoever on
any of your threads, thus hopefully avoiding upsetting you in the
future. Once again... I am extremely sorry that I have offended
you !!!
Now... allow me place the ball of choice in your court:
[ ] Continue with polite posts.
[ ] Bye Bye, Geeky !!!
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