Haroon Aswat: Briton sentenced to 20 years in US prison for terror offences

Aswat, a paranoind schizophrenic, is expected to apply to serve his sentence in the UK, a move the judge said she would support

Haroon Aswat, 41, is shown in this courtroom sketch during sentencing in U.S. Federal court in New York, (Reuters)

A Briton has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for conspiring to set up an al-Qaeda terrorist training camp in the US.

Haroon Aswat, a paranoid schizophrenic from West Yorkshire, travelled to the US in 1999 at the behest of radical preacher Abu Hamza al-Masri with the intention of setting up a training camp.

He spent two months in Seattle as part of a plan to buy land in Oregon which would be used to train jihadists who would be sent to Afghanistan. Had the plot succeeded he was to have provided religious training at the camp.

After the failure of the plot he travelled to Pakistan where he later met with two of the 7/7 London bombers, and shortly after the attack he was named as a possible suspect. He was arrested in Zambia later that year and extradited to the UK.

A court in New York tonight sentenced him to 20 years’ imprisonment for his role in attempting to set up the Oregon training camp. He is likely to be out in six years, having already spent a decade in UK and US custody.

He was sentenced by US District Judge Katherine Forrest who ordered that he be given specialised psychiatric care while in custody. He is expected to apply to serve his sentence in the UK, a move the judge said she would support.

His extradition from the UK to the US was blocked by the European Court of Human Rights amid concerns he would not get suitable medical treatment but went ahead in October 2014 once the US authorities provided adequate assurances.

At the hearing he apologised and said: "I have chosen patience over retaliation, forgiveness over enmity and peace over violence."

His legal team had argued he had never condoned violence but prosecution Attorney Shane Stansbury said: "To paint this man as a pacifist is a complete distortion of the truth."

Aswat’s role in the training camp conspiracy was discovered in 2002 when a ledger was recovered from a safe house in Pakistan that was used by Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, reputed to be the architect of al-Qaeda's deadly attack on the Twin Towers on September 11, 2001. Aswat’s name was among those listed in the ledger as being linked to al-Qaeda.

Aswat, described by prosecutors as a "loyal and devoted follower" of Abu Hamza, admitted onspiring to provide material support to al-Qaeda and providing material support to the terror group.

Abu Hamza, a former cleric at Finsbury Park mosque in London, was sentenced to life imprisonment earlier this year after being convicted of 11 terrorism charges.