US Muslim gets 30 years for joining al-Qaida

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
An American Muslim was sentenced to 30 years in prison for joining al-Qaida and plotting to assassinate President George W. Bush. Prosecutors had asked for the maximum - a life sentence - for Ahmed Omar Abu Ali, a 25-year-old US citizen who was born to a Jordanian father and raised in Falls Church, Virginia. "The facts of this case are still astonishing," prosecutor David Laufman said. "Barely a year after Sept. 11 the defendant joined the organization responsible for 3,000 deaths." But US District Judge Gerald Bruce Lee said 30 years was sufficient punishment. He compared the Abu Ali case to "American Taliban" John Walker Lindh, who received a 20-year sentence.