WASHINGTON, Nov 23: An American Muslim student has been convicted of plotting with Al Qaeda to kill President George Bush and trying to mount a Sept 11-style terrorist attack inside the US. On Tuesday, jurors in Falls Church, near Washington, convicted Ahmed Omar Abu Ali on all nine counts, including conspiracy to assassinate the president, conspiracy to commit aircraft piracy and providing material support to Al Qaeda. US law-enforcement sources, however, have said that the plot to kill Mr Bush never advanced beyond the talking stage. Abu Ali, a 24-year-old US citizen born to a Jordanian father and raised in Falls Church, Virginia, faces up to life in prison.

Abu Ali did not testify. His lawyer, Khurrum Wahid, said he will appeal. The verdict in US District Court in Alexandria, Virginia, on the jury’s third day of deliberations, closes one of the most hotly contested terrorism cases brought since the attacks of Sept 11, 2001. Abu Ali was arrested in Saudi Arabia in June 2003 and held there for 20 months. His parents mounted a campaign for his release, suing the US government and accusing it of condoning the torture of their son.

Jurors in the three-week trial saw a videotaped confession in which Abu Ali said he joined Al Qaeda because he hated the United States for its support to Israel. Notes taken by his Saudi interrogators said he discussed numerous potential terror plots, but the one that most appealed to him was killing “the leader of the infidels” — President Bush.

His lawyers argued that Abu Ali gave a false confession after being whipped and beaten by the Saudi security force known as the Mubahith.

Juror Nancy Ramsden said the videotaped confession was a “very striking” piece of evidence.

Abu Ali was charged with a variety of terrorism counts when he was flown back to the United States in February. Prosecutors said he had confessed to his Saudi jailers that he joined an Al Qaeda cell in the kingdom and was determined to kill President Bush by shooting him on the street or blowing him up with a car bomb.

His lawyers said Abu Ali was a polite kid from northern Virginia who went to Saudi Arabia only to pursue religious studies. “Obviously, the jury has spoken, but the fight is not over,” said the lawyer. “We plan to continue to use the justice system to pursue our client’s innocence.”