New York Man in Qaeda Case Will Serve 8 Years
A Lackawanna, N.Y., man who left a camp run by Al Qaeda in Afghanistan before completing training and said he had declined an offer to meet with Osama bin Laden received an eight-year prison sentence on Tuesday. The man, Shafal Mosed, 25, was one of six men from a Yemeni-American community in Lackawanna, a city just south of here, who have admitted to attending the Farooq camp in the spring and summer of 2001. Mr. Mosed pleaded guilty in March to a federal charge of providing material assistance to a terrorist organization, which could have carried a 10-year sentence. In arguing for the lesser sentence, prosecutors and Mr. Mosed’s lawyer cited his early departure from the camp — where he and the others received training in the use of weapons and performed guard duty — as well as his cooperation with government investigators. The defense lawyer, Patrick Brown, said leaders of the camp had offered Mr. Mosed a meeting with Mr. bin Laden in an effort to persuade him to stay. Full Story