Free Republic

Ahmed Ressam was resentenced this morning to 22 years in federal prison for conspiring to bomb the Los Angeles International Airport despite telling a judge that he recanted everything he has told the federal government about terrorist activities. Federal prosecutors had urged U.S. District Judge John Coughenour to send Ressam to prison for life — a sentence Ressam said he would accept now that he had cleared his conscience about his cooperation, which ended in 2003. Prosecutors pointed out that Ressam's defiance has cost two high-profile terrorism prosecutions so far, and that Ressam has actively tried to help the cases...

Prosecutors to appeal Ressam sentence August 26th, 2005 - 12:29pm (Seattle) -- Federal prosecutors say they will appeal the 22-year prison sentence of Ahmed Ressam, the Algerian national arrested in Port Angeles in 1999 and convicted of plotting to bomb LAX. The sentence handed down last month was significantly lower than the 35 years prosecutors had recommended, but could have been shorter still had Ressam agreed to testify against two of his alleged co-conspirators. In a statement today announcing his plans to appeal, U.S. Attorney John McKay says the standard sentencing range for the crimes Ressam committed is 65 years...