SACRAMENTO - Hamid Hayat, a Pakistani-American was sentenced to 24 years in prison for attending a jihadi training camp in Pakistan. Last April the 25-year-old Hayat was found guilty of providing material support to terrorists linked to al-Qaeda.
Hayat was also found guilty of lying to the FBI about the two years he had spent in Pakistan. U.S. District Judge Garland Burrell Jr. announced a sentence of 24 years in a federal prison for these charges and also added that Hayat would be on probation for 10 years thereafter.
"It was a sad day for us, but we are very confident he is going to get out on appeal," Umer Hayat, the father of Hamid told reporters outside the court. "He is innocent."
U.S. Attorney McGregor Scott, who prosecuted Hayat, said it was a proper sentence for someone who supported terrorists. "This prosecution demonstrates that we will utilize every legal tool available to us to ensure we, our children and our children's children never have to relive the horror of that day (9/11)."
Hayat spent two years in Pakistan of which sometime was spent in terror training camps. He was arrested in 2005 on his return to the United States. Prosecutors allege that Hayat returned with the express intention to wage violent jihad against the US.
His father Umer Hayat was also convicted of lying to the FBI on how much money he took to Pakistan when he visited that country in 2003. the elder Hayat was sentenced to 11 months in prison and four months house arrest.
Dennis Riordan, Hayat's attorney, has indicated that they will appeal the sentence at the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
