Canadian Abdulrahman El Bahnasawy was sentenced Wednesday to 40 years in federal prison for plotting to attack Times Square in New York and the city’s subway.
U.S. prosecutors had asked for life in prison, while the defence argued he should only receive four or five years and get treatment for mental health and drug addictions issues.
El Bahnasawy, of Mississauga, Ont., pleaded guilty in October 2016 to conspiring with ISIS operatives in a failed plan to bomb Times Square and the city’s subway system.
Judge Richard Berman said the sentence “was appropriate and necessary because of the serious and heinous nature of the offence.”
Berman said he had taken El Bahnasawy’s issues into account and wished him “the best of luck in his recovery,” but noted the chance of a relapse. “We just don’t know, and in these matters there is no room for error.”
El Bahnasawy’s mother stood up and shouted in protest, “This is a sick boy! This is crazy. You have no justice,” before being ushered out of the courtroom.
The judge said he is open to a possible transfer to Canada so Bahnasawy could serve his sentence here. It wasn’t immediately clear whether the defence would make that application.
A portion of El Bahnasawy’s letter to the court. (CBC)
El Bahnasawy himself wrote a 24-page submission to the court ahead of his sentencing hearing in April, asking a judge for a second chance, saying his frustration with how the West treated Islam had turned him toward extremism.
His parents had repeatedly said their son’s history of mental health and drug addiction made him susceptible to radicalization — first by ISIS recruiters, and then by the intelligence agents who were tracking him.
El Bahnasawy was 18 when he was arrested in New Jersey on a family trip. He had shipped bomb-making materials to a contact in the U.S. who turned out to be an undercover FBI agent. The agent had been communicating electronically with El Bahnasawy and two others in the months leading up to the failed attack.
Two other men — Talha Haroon, a 19-year-old U.S. citizen living in Pakistan, and Russell Salic, a 37-year-old Philippine citizen — were arrested outside of the U.S. for their roles in the plot.
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