A 41-year-old Indian-origin British man, suffering from paranoid schizophrenia, has been sentenced to 20 years in prison by an American court for trying to set up an al-Qaeda training camp in the U.S. on the orders of Islamist extremist preacher Abu Hamza.
Haroon Aswat, a Gujarati Muslim born in the UK had pleaded guilty to terror charges in March and has already served 11 years in a U.S. jail.
Aswat from West Yorkshire in northern England could qualify for early release in six years.
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“Aswat has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for terrorism offences relating to establish a terrorist training camp in the United States,” India-born Preet Bharara, Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and John Carlin, Assistant Attorney General for National Security, said in a joint statement.
“Haroon Aswat, with his co-conspirators travelled to Afghanistan to receive training from Al Qaeda,” Mr. Bharara said.
“Aswat’s conviction and the sentence imposed today-along with the other recent terrorism prosecutions by this Office, including of Sulaiman Abu Ghayth, Abu Hamza, and Khaled al Fawwaz — serve as further proof that justice in international terrorism cases continues to be delivered in American civilian courts,” he said.
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Aswat had admitted conspiring with radical Muslim cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri to set up a camp 15 years ago in Oregon.
He was supposed to provide religious training at the camp, which prosecutors said was set up to support al- Qaeda.
Aswat was convicted of one count of conspiracy to provide material support to al-Qaeda, and one count of providing material support to al-Qaeda, the statement said.
Speaking after the sentencing in the Manhattan federal court Carlin said: “Aswat was arrested more than 10 years ago, and his sentence is the result of the tireless and persistent efforts of law enforcement to hold accountable all those who wish to harm the United States, whether at home or abroad, no matter how long it takes”.
In addition to the term of imprisonment, Judge Katherine B Forrest imposed a $200 special assessment. Judge Forrest also ordered that Aswat be removed from the U.S. to the UK following the completion of his sentence, it said.
A ledger naming Aswat as an al-Qaeda associate was said to have been found in 2002 in a Pakistan safehouse that prosecutors say was used by Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the accused architect of the September 11 terrorist attacks.
He was arrested by UK authorities in 2005 at RAF Northolt, and three years later he was transferred from prison to Broadmoor psychiatric hospital.