British man jailed for 20 years for terror crimes

A British man who admitted to plotting to set up an extremist training camp in the US has been jailed for 20 years, media reported on Saturday.

Haroon Aswat, 41, from Batley, West Yorkshire, pleaded guilty to terrorism charges in New York in March, BBC reported.

He admitted conspiring with radical Muslim cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri to set up a camp 15 years ago in Oregon.

The US district judge Katherine Forrest said Aswat, who suffers from paranoid schizophrenia, would be returned to Britain on completion of his sentence.

Aswat had also pleaded guilty to one count of “providing material support to al-Qaeda”.

Aswat was arrested by British authorities in 2005, and three years later he was transferred from prison to Broadmoor psychiatric hospital.

He fought extradition for several years, with the European Court of Human Rights ruling in September 2013 that he could not be extradited as his mental health could deteriorate.

However, he lost his final legal battle in January 2015, when the European Court of Human Rights dismissed a case he brought against the British government arguing his extradition rested on inadequate assurances from the US officials about his treatment.

(IANS)