British Man Sentenced on Terrorism Charges in New York

A 41-year-old Indian-origin British man, suffering from paranoid schizophrenia, has been sentenced to 20 years in prison by a court here for trying to set up an al-Qaeda training camp in the USA on the orders of Abu Hamza, a UK-based Islamist extremist preacher.

Haroon Aswat, who was extradited to the USA a year ago, admitted supporting terrorism and conspiracy after he and Hamza made arrangements to create a terrorist training camp in Bly, Oregon, 15 years ago.

His lawyer, Peter Quijano, said Aswat would seek to serve out his sentence in Britain, a request Forrest said she would support.

Haroon Aswat, 41 years old, had pleaded guilty in March to terrorism charges related to his efforts to establish the camp in Bly, Ore.

“Aswat’s conviction and the sentence imposed today-along with the other recent terrorism prosecutions by this Office, including of Sulaiman Abu Ghayth, Abu Hamza, and Khaled al Fawwaz – serve as further proof that justice in global terrorism cases continues to be delivered in American civilian courts”, he said.

With credit for 11 years he has already spent in United Kingdom and USA custody as well as good behaviour, Aswat could be freed in six years.

US District Judge Katherine Forrest said it was “of the greatest importance” that he receive specialist psychiatric care and that the court would support him serving out his sentence in Britain.

Aswat was supposed to provide religious training at the camp, which prosecutors said was set up to support al Qaeda. Under Hamza’s influence, Aswat travelled the world to meet with terrorists including the London 7/7 bombing ringleader and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed – the 9/11 mastermind now held in Guantánamo Bay. He arrived in New York in October 2014. A ledger recovered in September 2002 from an al Qaeda safe house in Karachi, Pakistan, listed a number of individuals associated with al Qaeda, including Aswat.

The European Court of Human Rights initially blocked his extradition to the United States over concerns the USA authorities would be able to provide him with suitable medical treatment. But the assistant U.S. attorney Shane Stansbury said that, to paint this man as a pacifist is a complete distortion of the truth.

“I have chosen patience over retaliation, forgiveness over enmity and peace over violence…I have learned that crime does not pay”, Aswat was quoted as saying.