A PAKISTANI-BORN American citizen has been sentenced to life imprisonment for attempting to set off a car bomb in Times Square in Manhattan earlier this year.
Faisal Shahzad, 31, pleaded guilty to attempting to 10 charges, including attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction and an attempt to kill or maim.
Shahzad was arrested at JFK International Airport two days after the failed 1 May bombing – after he had boarded a flight to Dubai.
Throughout his trial, Shazad has reportedly shown no remorse for his plans, and claimed that he had hoped to conduct a second bombing in the weeks following the Times Square attack.
Shazad has blamed US foreign policy in his native Pakistan for his plans. In June, he pleaded guilty to the attempted attack saying:
I want to plead guilty 100 times because unless the United States pulls out of Afghanistan and Iraq, until they stop drone strikes in Somalia, Pakistan and Yemen and stop attacking Muslim lands, we will attack the United States and be out to get them.
Prosecutors sought the ultimate penalty, saying that Shazad’s attack was premeditated and was planned in such a way as to cause the maximum fatalities possible.
Shahzad admitted to receiving five days of weapons training in Waziristan, in Pakistan. However, prosecutors said Shahzad spent a total of 40 days living with the Pakistani Taliban in December 2009.
Shazad’s sentence begins today.
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