A former paramedic and cab driver in the US state of Maryland was sentenced to 15 years in prison on Wednesday after admitting he attended a militant training camp in the mountains of Pakistan. Mahmud Faruq Brent, 32, pleaded guilty in April to providing support to a terrorist organisation. For three months in early 2002.
He attended a camp operated by Lashkar-e-Taiba, which the US government has designated a terrorist group. In sentencing Brent, US District Judge Loretta Preska said he was a willing "foot soldier" whose decision to attend a training camp in Pakistan "falls completely within the heartland" of "terrorist-related activities."
Brent, a Muslim who wore a white skullcap during the hearing in Manhattan federal court, declined to speak in his defence. He was charged along with three other men as part of a case centered around New York jazz musician and martial arts instructor Tarik Shah, who pleaded guilty to pledging allegiance to al Qaeda and offering to train would-be militants in hand-to-hand combat.