US student agrees plea deal to avert trial on terror charges
Source: Agencies |
April 29, 2010, Thursday
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ON the eve of his terrorism trial, an American student who studied in London admitted on Tuesday that he helped a friend deliver some protective clothing to an al-Qaida military commander fighting Americans in Afghanistan.
The plea by Syed Hashmi to a single count of conspiracy to provide material support to al-Qaida was entered in US District Court in Manhattan, averting a trial that was supposed to begin yesterday.
As part of a plea deal that will require prosecutors to drop three other terrorism charges at his June 7 sentencing, Hashmi agreed to serve 15 years in prison. He has already served four years, at least three of them in solitary confinement at a federal lockup in lower Manhattan.
The 30-year-old Hashmi had faced up to 70 years in prison if convicted of four criminal counts. "He'll be out of prison before he's 40 and have his whole life in front of him," defense attorney David Ruhnke said.
Hashmi, born in Karachi, Pakistan, was raised in Flushing, Queens. He obtained his bachelor's degree in political science from Brooklyn College before moving to London in 2003 to study at London Metropolitan University, where he got a master's degree in international relations in 2006.
Prosecutors had planned at his trial to show jurors an excerpt of a five-minute videotape that they say shows Hashmi leading a June 2002 protest in Manhattan by an Islamic fundamentalist organization whose members support al-Qaida and seek the overthrow of Western society. The government said Hashmi, among other things, said, "Bin Laden is not a terrorist."
Defense lawyers in papers submitted in the case had noted that the trial was to occur just blocks from the site of the World Trade Center attacks in 2001. "It is highly likely, if not guaranteed, that every member of the jury will have a strong negative reaction to the rhetoric attributed to Mr Hashmi," the lawyers said.
Hashmi was arrested in June 2006 at Heathrow Airport in London as he was about to board a flight to Pakistan. A year later, he became the first individual to be extradited from the United Kingdom to the United States on terrorism charges.
On Tuesday, Hashmi in his prison blue uniform and white skull cap smiled as he entered the courtroom. He displayed his religious enthusiasm several times when he answered questions from Judge Loretta Preska.
"By the grace of Allah, yes," he said as he answered one question.
"All praise to Allah, no," he said in answer to another.
He answered a series of "yes" and "no" questions from Ruhnke to admit his crime. He admitted he knew that a friend who stayed with him in January 2004 for two weeks was storing some ponchos, waterproof socks and sleeping bags to be delivered to al-Qaida.
The plea by Syed Hashmi to a single count of conspiracy to provide material support to al-Qaida was entered in US District Court in Manhattan, averting a trial that was supposed to begin yesterday.
As part of a plea deal that will require prosecutors to drop three other terrorism charges at his June 7 sentencing, Hashmi agreed to serve 15 years in prison. He has already served four years, at least three of them in solitary confinement at a federal lockup in lower Manhattan.
The 30-year-old Hashmi had faced up to 70 years in prison if convicted of four criminal counts. "He'll be out of prison before he's 40 and have his whole life in front of him," defense attorney David Ruhnke said.
Hashmi, born in Karachi, Pakistan, was raised in Flushing, Queens. He obtained his bachelor's degree in political science from Brooklyn College before moving to London in 2003 to study at London Metropolitan University, where he got a master's degree in international relations in 2006.
Prosecutors had planned at his trial to show jurors an excerpt of a five-minute videotape that they say shows Hashmi leading a June 2002 protest in Manhattan by an Islamic fundamentalist organization whose members support al-Qaida and seek the overthrow of Western society. The government said Hashmi, among other things, said, "Bin Laden is not a terrorist."
Defense lawyers in papers submitted in the case had noted that the trial was to occur just blocks from the site of the World Trade Center attacks in 2001. "It is highly likely, if not guaranteed, that every member of the jury will have a strong negative reaction to the rhetoric attributed to Mr Hashmi," the lawyers said.
Hashmi was arrested in June 2006 at Heathrow Airport in London as he was about to board a flight to Pakistan. A year later, he became the first individual to be extradited from the United Kingdom to the United States on terrorism charges.
On Tuesday, Hashmi in his prison blue uniform and white skull cap smiled as he entered the courtroom. He displayed his religious enthusiasm several times when he answered questions from Judge Loretta Preska.
"By the grace of Allah, yes," he said as he answered one question.
"All praise to Allah, no," he said in answer to another.
He answered a series of "yes" and "no" questions from Ruhnke to admit his crime. He admitted he knew that a friend who stayed with him in January 2004 for two weeks was storing some ponchos, waterproof socks and sleeping bags to be delivered to al-Qaida.
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