Would-be train bomber gets life in Germany

DUSSELDORF, Germany, Dec. 10 (UPI) -- A young Lebanese man convicted in Germany Tuesday of placing defective bombs on passenger trains was sentenced to life in prison.

Youssef al-Hajj Dib, 24, was found guilty of attempted mass murder, Deutsche Welle reported. Another man, Jihad Hamad, was convicted in Lebanon and sentenced to 12 years there.

During the trial, Dib claimed he did not intend to kill anyone, saying the bombs were designed to scare and not to explode. He said Hamad only confessed to a murder plot because he was tortured in Beirut.

"I swear by God Almighty that it was never my intention to kill," he said.

Prosecutors depicted Dib as a man who turned to religious extremism after being frustrated by his rejection by universities in Germany where he had hoped to study engineering. They said the bombs were placed on two trains on July 31, 2006, in response to the cartoons of Mohammed published by a Danish newspaper.

Security cameras showed the two men placing the bombs. Investigators said that if they had gone off as many as 75 people might have been killed.