July 27, 2007	Friday	Rajab 11, 1428

NEW YORK: Mahmud Faruq Brent, also known as “Mahmud Almutazzim,” was sentenced on Wednesday to 15 years’ imprisonment on charges that he conspired to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organisation, Lashkar-e-Taiba, Michael J. Garcia, the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York announced.

US District Judge Loretta A. Preska observed that without foot-soldiers willing to offer themselves as fighters, like Brent, Lashkar-e-Taiba could not carry out violent terrorist acts and that Brent’s willingness to travel and train at Lashkar-e-Taiba’s terrorist training camp in Pakistan was a critical component of putting Lashkar-e-Taiba’s murderous views into action, said a news release by the court.

Judge Preska also noted that after completing his terrorist military training in Pakistan, Brent returned to the United States to wait for the opportunity to put his training into action. Brent had previously pleaded guilty to the charges on April 2, 2007.

According to charging and sentencing documents filed in the case and statements made during Brent’s guilty plea proceeding, Brent, working with others, travelled to Pakistan in 2002 and attended a terrorist training camp operated by the Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist organization. Brent thereafter returned to the United States and was living in the Baltimore, Maryland, area at the time of his arrest in August 2005.