An Ohio truck driver, Kashmir-born naturalised US citizen Iyman Faris, was sentenced to 20 years in prison for plotting with the Al Qaeda network to blow up the Brooklyn bridge in New York and launch a simultaneous attack in Washington. The District Court in Alexandria (Virginia) sentenced Faris after a federal judge rejected his attempt to withdraw his guilty plea on the plot. Faris told the court yesterday that he was trying to fool the FBI when he pleaded guilty on May 1 as he wanted to gather material for a book. Officials said Faris had fantasies of travelling to Pakistan and working with the government to find Osama bin Laden. US District Judge Leonie M. Brinkena rejected the attempt, which included revelations that Faris had started banging his head against a door during an interview with the FBI. Faris told the judge yesterday that he was innocent. ‘‘I don’t have any connection to Al Qaeda except my best friend worked for Al Qaeda,’’ he said. He added: ‘‘You have every right to punish me because of my stupidity that day (when he pleaded guilty).’’ Faris’ guilty plea was unsealed June 19, when Attorney General John Ashcroft said he appeared to be a hardworking truck driver but ‘‘had a secret double life’’ that included carrying cash for Al Qaeda, providing Bin Laden with information about ultralight aircraft and scouting equipment for sabotaging railway tracks and bridge cables. Officials said Faris was an Al Qaeda scout who had planned with its top operative Khalid Sheik Mohammed to sever the cables of the Brooklyn bridge and to derail trains around Washington. Court papers say Faris scouted the bridge and, after concluding the plot would fail because of the bridge’s security and structure, sent a message to Al Qaeda that ‘‘the weather is too hot’’. On Faris’ contention about gathering material for a book, McNulty said: ‘‘He did some very serious things. Like most criminals, when they are caught, they have a number of ideas to get themselves out of accountability.’’ Faris’ attorney, Fred Sinclair, said that as he investigated the charges further, he developed doubts that Faris was involved in the bridge plot. ‘‘The problem is that he admitted to it. What really happened, only Faris knows.’’
