Man who plotted to kill Bush gets 30 years

A federal judge in Alexandria, Va., Wednesday sentenced Ahmed Omar Abu Ali, the Falls Church, Va., man convicted of conspiring to kill President Bush and of joining an al-Qaida cell in Saudi Arabia, to 30 years in prison with 30 additional years of supervised release.

U.S. District Judge Gerald Bruce Lee denied government prosecutors’ request to impose a life sentence, citing several mitigating factors, including the fact that Abu Ali “never planted any bombs, shot any gun or injured any person.”

The 30-year sentence will “adequately and reasonably reflect” the seriousness of Abu Ali’s offenses and “provide just punishment,” Lee said, because it means the U.S.-born citizen, 25, will spend “most of his productive years in prison.”

The sentence disappointed Abu Ali’s family and friends, who maintain that he was wrongly convicted on statements that they say were obtained under coercion and torture during his 20-month incarceration in Saudi Arabia.

“I think it’s a sad day not only for me as a mother but for the whole country,” said Abu Ali’s mother, Faten Abu Ali, after the proceedings. “America is all about justice and democracy. Before we export democracy to the outside, we have to have it in our own land. My son didn’t have a fair trial.”

Abu Ali attorney Khurrum Wahid called the sentence “disappointing,” noting that Abu Ali had testified during a pretrial hearing that “he was tortured and that is the only reason he had made these statements.”

Lee later said he found it implausible that Abu Ali was tortured, and jurors said after their verdict that they did not believe his story.

At his November trial, the jury convicted Abu Ali on nine counts, including conspiring to assassinate the president and commit aircraft piracy; providing material support to al-Qaida and plotting terrorist activities in the United States. Those activities included kidnapping members of Congress.

Abu Ali’s lawyers have said they will appeal his conviction.