Would-be NYC subway bomber who turned informant faces sentencing
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A former al Qaeda recruit convicted of plotting to bomb New York City’s subway system will be sentenced on Thursday, nearly a decade after he pleaded guilty and became one of the U.S. government’s most valuable counterterrorism informants.
U.S. prosecutors in Brooklyn, New York, have asked that Najibullah Zazi, 33, be given credit for his “extraordinary” cooperation since he pleaded guilty in February 2010. Zazi faces up to life in prison after pleading guilty to numerous terrorism crimes, including conspiring to use weapons of mass destruction and providing support to al Qaeda.
Zazi was particularly valuable to investigators given his familiarity with al Qaeda operations, after he traveled to Pakistan, met with senior al Qaeda members and underwent weapons and explosives training.
The government has not publicly revealed the extent of Zazi’s assistance, saying that could imperil ongoing investigations.
But prosecutors noted that he helped implicate two co-conspirators in the subway plot, Adis Medunjanin and Zarein Ahmedzay. They also said information Zazi provided helped convict at least three other individuals in terrorism cases.
“Over the past eight years, Zazi has provided extraordinary cooperation, meeting with the government more than 100 times,” government lawyers wrote in court filings. “Zazi’s assistance came in the face of substantial potential danger to himself and his family.”
Pursuant to the cooperation agreement, prosecutors did not ask for a specific sentence, but it appears likely Zazi will receive far less than a life term. Ahmedzay, who also pleaded guilty in the subway plot and agreed to cooperate after Zazi did so, was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
Zazi, who was born in Afghanistan, moved as a teenager to New York City, where he dropped out of high school and became a street vendor.
He became radicalized after Medunjanin, a friend, gave him audio tapes of lectures by the U.S.-born cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, according to prosecutors. He, Medunjanin and Ahmedzay traveled to Pakistan, intending to join al Qaeda in fighting U.S troops in Afghanistan.
Instead, al Qaeda officials urged them to return to the United States to carry out a suicide bombing.
The three men agreed to bomb the subway during rush hour, and Zazi began assembling explosive materials. He was arrested in 2009, however, after federal investigators were tipped off that he had ties to militants.
Medunjanin was convicted at trial, in large part thanks to Zazi’s testimony, and was sentenced to life in prison.
Reporting by Joseph Ax; Editing by Daniel Wallis and Bernadette Baum
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