ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 29 (UPI) -- A Falls Church, Va., man convicted of conspiring to kill President George W. Bush was sentenced to 30 years in prison in an Alexandria courtroom Wednesday.
U.S. District Judge Gerald Bruce Lee denied the government's request to send Ahmed Omar Abu Ali, 25, to prison for life. Abu Ali will be subject to 30 years of supervision when he gets out of prison, The Washington Post reported.
Abu Ali, a U.S. citizen, was convicted in November on nine counts of conspiring with al-Qaida to assassinate Bush and hijack airplanes. Abu Ali claimed he gave a false confession after being tortured while imprisoned in Saudi Arabia.
Saudi security officers arrested Abu Ali in June 2003 while he was a student at the Islamic University of Medina, on suspicion that he was connected to a bombing that killed 23 people in Riyadh.
Abu Ali's mother told the Post after the sentence was imposed it was a sad day for her and the United States.
"America is all about justice and democracy," she said. "Before we export democracy to the outside, we have to have it in our own land. My son didn't have a fair trial."
