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Canadian al-Qaeda member gets life in jail for bomb plots

A Canadian member of al-Qaeda with ties to Osama bin Laden was sentenced to life in jail by a New York court on Friday for plotting in 2001 to bomb US embassies in Manila and Singapore.

Mohammed Mansour Jabarah pleaded guilty in 2002 to conspiracy to kill US citizens in plots against the two embassies, but later rejected his militant past, saying he had been brainwashed by the Islamic extremist group.

Jabarah, 26, wearing a brown knitted cap and a full beard sat expressionless as Judge Barbara Jones passed sentence for what she described as "the nature of your participation in two conspiracies at the very highest level."

Prosecutors said Jabarah met al-Qaeda leader bin Laden in 2001 and was sent by Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the mastermind behind the Sept. 11 attacks to meet Jemaah Islamiyah leaders in Southeast Asia to prepare the bombings.

Jemaah Islamiyah was blamed for the 2002 bombings on Indonesia's resort island of Bali, which killed 202 people, mainly foreign tourists.

"You have admitted ... that you were involved in heinous crimes. Although you were only 19 or 20 years old ... you did participate and really ran -- as the emissary of Osama bin Laden -- these two operations," Jones said.

Jabarah read a statement to the court saying he was a "naive, young and brainwashed 20-year-old," when he got involved with al-Qaeda, who he described as "nothing more than terrorists."

"Regardless of whom you may have become today, I must deal with the acts you committed," Jones said, rejecting a request by Jabarah to be released.

Prosecutors argued that the plots were close to being carried out had they not been disrupted by Singapore authorities.

The case surrounding Jabarah -- a Canadian citizen of Iraqi descent -- has been surrounded in secrecy since his arrest in Oman in 2002.

Despite initially cooperating with US agents after pleading guilty to the embassy plots in 2002, Jabarah later refused to cooperate, saying US agents had failed to honor a commitment to keep his involvement with them secret.

But David Raskin, chief of New York prosecutors' terrorism and national security unit, said Jabarah had withdrawn his cooperation because he had sworn allegiance to bin Laden.

"His loyalty has always been to Osama bin Laden and still is," Raskin told the court.
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