Posted on 11/27/2015 5:16:07 AM PST by csvset
A Pakistani man was sentenced to 40 years in prison Tuesday for his role in a failed al Qaeda bomb plot targeting sites in Europe and the United states, including the New York City subway system.
Abid Naseer, 29, is the eighth defendant to be charged in this case, CBS News' Paula Reid reports. Prosecutors say the planned attack was directed and coordinated with senior Al Qaeda leaders in Pakistan and also involved other targets in Europe.
"I know you're not what I'd say, for any lack of a better word, a 'typical' criminal. Not in any sense of the word. You're a terrorist," U.S. District Judge Raymond Dearie told Naseer when announcing the sentence, Reuters reported.
In March, Naseer was found guilty after a New York trial that featured spies in disguise, evidence from the raid on Osama bin Laden's compound and the defendant's questioning of an admitted co-conspirator.
Naseer was first arrested in 2009 in Great Britain on charges he was part of a terror cell plotting to blow up a shopping mall in Manchester, England. The charges were dropped after a British court found there wasn't enough evidence, but U.S. prosecutors later named him in an indictment that alleged a broader conspiracy that included a failed plot to attack the New York City subway.
After his rearrest and extradition to the United States in 2013, Naseer pleaded not guilty to providing and conspiring to provide material support to al Qaeda and conspiring to use a destructive device.
He acted as his own lawyer, often referring to himself in the third person as he set about portraying himself as a moderate Muslim who was falsely accused. He was assisted by a court-appointed attorney but largely spoke for himself and demonstrated a calm demeanor in court.
"Abid is innocent," Naseer said in closing arguments on Monday. "He is not a terrorist. He is not an al Qaeda operative."
Naseer's self-representation created the spectacle of the defendant cross-examining an admitted terrorist. Five British Mi5 secret agents also testified wearing disguises - one wore a fake beard and thick black glasses - and the trial marked the first time documents recovered in the 2009 Navy SEAL raid against Osama bin Laden's compound were used as trial evidence.
Ah, the elusive moderate Muslim, rarely seen, so rare that one might say it's a figment of the imagination.
Not to worry - Obama can pardon him.
the religion of peace is getting old, just like this global warming, and so they changed the name to climate change.
Why aren’t these people getting the needle...though I prefer firing squad.
Terrorism / conspiracy to commit terrorism should be categorized as treason and made eligible for capital punishment. Have *any* of these Mohammedans received the death penalty?
I’m pro wood chipper.
Terrorism should be a capital offense. By firing squad or guillotine. In the public square.
Why no death penalty? Because prison is a secondary target with lots of recruitment opportunities.
From the LOCAL, we have this.
Man with Norway terror ties gets 40 years in US
A Pakistani suspected of being involved in a plot hatched in Norway to attack Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten has been sentenced to 40 years in prison in New York.
Abid Naseer, a 29-year-old Pakistani who was extradited from the UK to the US, was given a 40-year prison sentence in a federal court in New York on Tuesday for terrorist plots in several countries, including one targeting Denmark that was planned in Norway. Prosecutors had hoped for a life sentence.
American officials said that Naseer was involved in a plot to target the Copenhagen offices of Jyllands-Posten newspaper, which sparked deadly protests in the Muslim world with its publication of caricatures of Mohammed.
According to US prosecutors, Naseer had connections to the three men who were arrested in Norway in July 2010 on charges that they plotted to bomb the newspaper's office. Two men were found guilty of the plot and Norwegian national Mikael Davud, a member of China's Uighur minority considered the mastermind of the plot, was given eight years behind bars. Shawan Sadek Saeed Bujak, an Iraqi Kurd residing in Norway, was given a three-and-a-half-year term while the court failed to come to a decision over the guilt of a third man.
Naseer is said to have been in regular contact with an al-Qaeda operative who was involved in the Norway planning.
UK officials arrested Naseer and 11 other men in 2009 for planning an attack on a Manchester shopping mall and US authorities said he also had plans to attack the New York City subway system.
A search of a Manchester Internet cafe frequented by Naseer revealed exchanges with an Al-Qaeda handler and downloaded jihadi anthems which called for "death in large numbers." According to the BBC, the men were ordered to leave the UK but Naseer was allowed to stay after a judge ruled that he would not be safe in his native Pakistan.
In 2010, US prosecutors requested that the UK arrest him again on the suspicion that he was involved in plans to attack the New York subway system and Jyllands-Posten – plots that the US Justice Department said were "directed by and co-ordinated with senior al-Qaeda leaders in Pakistan".
Naseer's was one of many foiled terror plots to have targeted Jyllands-Posten since the newspaper published 12 cartoons depicting the prophet Muhammad in September 2005, which caused angry and sometimes deadly protests worldwide.
Kurt Westergaard, the artist behind the most controversial of the 12 cartoons, was targeted in a failed murder attempt at his home in 2010 and American-born terrorist David Headley was behind a 2009 plot to storm the newspaper's offices and behead journalists.
Feeding them to pigs would be okay with me.
Typical moozlum loser...Typical.
Rot you punjabi arsehole
Nice tag line
I am concerned about him radicalizing the prison population. Muslim terrorist should be separated from the other prisoners until we can execute them. He should not get 40 years. That’s 40 years of spreading hate in the prisons. Just kill him.
Exactly!
,,,,and I thought the NY Times would name him ,, “Man of the Year” .
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_New_York_City_Subway_and_United_Kingdom_plot
Many a truth are said in jest.
Pygmies. I blame the moderate Pygmies.
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