New York, April 28: An American student who studied in London has admitted that he helped a friend deliver some protective clothing to an al-Qaida military commander fighting Americans in Afghanistan.
The plea by Pakistani-born Syed Hashmi to a single count of conspiracy to provide material support to al-Qaida was entered in US District Court in Manhattan, averting a trial that was supposed to begin today.
As part of a plea deal that will require prosecutors to drop three other terrorism charges at his June 7 sentencing, Hashmi agreed to serve 15 years in prison. He has already served four years, at least three of them in solitary confinement at a federal lockup next to the courthouse.
The 30-year-old Hashmi had faced up to 70 years in prison if convicted of four criminal counts.
–PTI