A 40-year-old Yemeni Al-Qaeda operative who spearheaded an attack in Afghanistan back in 2008, resulting in the death of a U.S. army ranger, was found guilty on Tuesday at a Brooklyn federal court to charges related to his terrorism activities.
The charges included conspiracy to murder Americans overseas and supporting terrorist organizations, according to The New York Times.
Saddiq al-Abbadi, a Yemeni national, is now looking at a minimum of 30 years in prison and a maximum sentence of life in prison. Al-Abbadi was extradited to the U.S. four months earlier from Saudi Arabia, where he served five years of his 12-year prison sentence in a terrorism case, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Al-Abbadi admitted to the court that he fought in Iraq between 2005 and 2009 against the U.S. with "the intention to hurt, wound or kill these forces." He also confessed to being an Al-Qaeda operative with full knowledge that the U.S. considered it as a terrorist organization.
Al-Abbadi also helped U.S. citizen Bryant Neal Vinas join the terrorist group. Vinas was involved in plotting a terrorist attack on the Long Island Rail Road. However, he was arrested before he could execute the attack and pleaded guilty in 2009 to charges of attempting to kill American soldiers overseas and providing information to al Qaeda, and has been cooperating with authorities, according to CNN.
"The defendant was a high-level al-Qaeda operative with ties to the terrorist group's senior leadership in both Pakistan and Yemen," U.S. Attorney Kelly T. Currie said, the Federal Bureau of Investigation reported. "He fought in battles against U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, tried to kill U.S. troops in Afghanistan by luring them to a compound rigged with explosives, and helped an American citizen gain entry to al-Qaeda. We stand resolute in our commitment to bring to justice those who would try to harm members of our military or who assist al-Qaeda's efforts to kill Americans at home or abroad."
