WASHINGTON: A Pakistani man was sentenced to 40 years in prison on Tuesday for his alleged role in an Al Qaeda plot to carry out attacks in Europe and the United States.

In March, a US jury convicted Abid Naseer, 29, of plotting to bomb a shopping centre in England as part of a larger plan for attacks across the Western world.

“I know you’re not what I’d say for any lack of a better word a ‘typical’ criminal. Not in any sense of the word,” US District Judge Raymond Dearie in Brooklyn, New York, told Naseer while announcing the sentence. “You’re a terrorist.” James Neuman, Naseer’s lawyer, said he planned to appeal.

Naseer faced life in prison but his lawyer appealed for leniency, calling a life sentence excessive given his “very limited” alleged role in the plot.

US federal prosecutors, however, insisted that Naseer should be sentenced to life because he remained committed to Al Qaeda’s cause and posed an extreme danger.

Naseer was convicted nearly six years after he was first arrested in a British anti-terrorism operation.

Published in Dawn, November 25th, 2015