PHILADELPHIA, Jan. 6 (UPI) -- U.S. prosecutors called a Pakistani immigrant convicted of aiding terrorists a serious threat, asking the young man be imprisoned for a decade.
Mohammad Hassan Khalid was a high school student in Maryland when first charged by prosecutors with assisting terrorists, including a woman known in online forums as Jihad Jane. And despite eventually working with the FBI to help crack other terrorism cases, prosecutors said Khalid's actions merit a significant prison term, the Baltimore Sun reported Sunday.
Khalid lawyer Jeffrey Lindy argued his client did not fully understand the implications of his online banter with adult terrorists.
"It was like a video game to him," Lindy said, arguing his client, now 20, should serve a shorter prison term.
Khalid pleaded guilty to the terror charge in May. His sentencing hearing, which has been put off several times, is scheduled for Tuesday in Philadelphia.
Prosecutors first learned of Khalid's presence online during interrogations of Colleen LaRose, aka Jihad Jane. LaRose and an Algerian man currently fighting extradition to the United States from Ireland, were known to have plotted terrorist attacks and raised money for terror groups abroad. Together, the three said they hoped to form a terrorist cell in the United States.
