A US appeals court upheld a life sentence Tuesday for an American citizen arrested in 2003 for joining an al Qaeda plot to assassinate then-president George W. Bush. The court in Virginia rejected Ahmed Omar Abu Ali's contention that his July 2009 sentence was unreasonable and violated several constitutional provisions. "Finding Abu Ali's arguments to be without merit, we affirm the judgment of the district court," the appeals court said in a ruling.
The 29-year-old was born in Texas and lived in Falls Church, Virginia, a suburb of the US capital Washington. He was arrested in 2003 by authorities in Medina, Saudi Arabia, where he had been studying theology for several months. He was first convicted in late 2005, and the indictment was later amended to include nine charges, namely plotting to assassinate Bush and providing material support to al Qaeda.
Abu Ali was initially sentenced to 30 years behind bars - a more lenient sentence because he failed to carry out any attacks - but the appeals court agreed with US Justice Department prosecutors in 2008 and remanded the case for resentencing. He later received the life imprisonment term. Prosecutors specifically alleged that Abu Ali plotted with an accomplice to assassinate the former president, either by shooting him, planting a car bomb or carrying out a suicide bomb attack.
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