A federal judge sentenced an American to 24 years in prison for material support to terrorists by attending a paramilitary training camp in Pakistan and lying about it to U.S. officials.
A jury in Sacramento, California, convicted Hamid Hayat in April 2006 for his activities between 2003 and 2005. Federal prosecutors had sought a 35-year sentence and his defense had argued that he should spend no more than 15 years behind bars. "It is because of prosecutions like this that we have prevented another attack against the United States," McGregor Scott, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of California, told reporters. "The threat to our nation demonstrated by the acts of the 9/11 terrorists was brought home with the revelations of Hamid Hayat's actions two years ago," Scott said. |