Washington - A California man was sentenced Monday to 24 years in prison after a jury found him guilty of attending a terrorist training camp in Pakistan and returning to the United States to wage violent jihad, or Islamic holy war. Hamid Hayat, 25, was convicted in April 2006 on charges including material support for terrorism, but US prosecutors failed to prove broader assertions that he was part of an al-Qaeda cell in the sleepy farming town of Lodi, California.
The government's case against Hayat, a Pakistani-American born in the US, turned in part on a taped admission to US investigators that he had attended a terrorist camp near Balakot, Pakistan, for several months in 2003-4.
Hayat later retracted his confession and claimed he was innocent. He was also found guilty of lying to FBI investigators about his intentions during initial questioning after his return from Pakistan.
McGregor Scott, a federal prosecutor on the case, evoked al- Qaeda's September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States in welcoming the punishment for Hayat.
"The threat to our nation demonstrated by the acts of the 9/11 terrorists was brought home with the revelations of Hamid Hayat's actions two years ago," he said, according to the US Justice Department.
