The Pakistani immigrant who tried to detonate a car bomb in Times Square accepted a life sentence with a smirk on Tuesday and warned that Americans can expect more bloodshed at the hands of Muslims.
“Brace yourselves, because the war with Muslims has just begun,” 31-year-old Faisal Shahzad told a federal judge. “Consider me the first droplet of the blood that will follow.”
His punishment for building the propane-and-gasoline bomb and driving it into the heart of New York in an SUV in May was a foregone conclusion, since the charges to which he pleaded guilty carried a mandatory life sentence, which under federal rules will keep him behind bars until he dies.
PHOTO: REUTERS
However, the former budget analyst used the courtroom appearance to rail against the US, saying the country will continue to pay for occupying Muslim countries.
“We are only Muslims trying to defend our religion, people, homes and land, but if you call us terrorists, then we are proud terrorists and we will keep on terrorizing you until you leave our lands and people at peace,” he told US District Judge Miriam Goldman Cedarbaum.
“You appear to be someone who was capable of education and I do hope you will spend some of the time in prison thinking carefully about whether the Koran wants you to kill lots of people,” Cedarbaum said.
Shahzad responded that the “Koran gives us the right to defend. And that’s all I’m doing.”
The judge asked if he had sworn allegiance to the US when he became a citizen last year.
“I did swear, but I did not mean it,” Shahzad said.
In his address to the court, he said Osama bin Laden “will be known as no less than Saladin of the 21st-century crusade” — a reference to the Muslim hero of the Crusades.
He also said: “If I’m given 1,000 lives, I will sacrifice them all.”
Shahzad smirked when the judge imposed the sentence. Asked if he had any final words, he said, “I’m happy with the deal that God has given me.”
Afterward, the head of the FBI’s New York office, Janice Fedarcyk, cited evidence that Shahzad hoped to strike more than once.
“Shahzad built a mobile weapon of mass destruction and hoped and intended that it would kill large numbers of innocent people and planned to do it again two weeks later,” Fedarcyk said in a statement.
US Attorney Preet Bharara called Shahzad a “remorseless terrorist who betrayed his adopted country.”
Shahzad pleaded guilty in June to 10 terrorism and weapons counts. He said the Pakistan Taliban provided him with more than US$15,000 and five days of explosives training late last year and early this year, months after he became a US citizen.
On May 1, he lit the fuse of his crude bomb packed in a Nissan Pathfinder, then walked away, pausing to listen for the explosion that never came, court papers said. A street vendor spotted smoke coming from the SUV and alerted police, who cleared the area.
The bomb attempt set off an investigation that culminated two days later with Shahzad being plucked off a Dubai-bound plane at a New York airport.
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was