Faisal Shahzad – who built a truck bomb and drove it into Times Square in 2010.

He was found guilty on all five counts, including soliciting or providing support of an act of terrorism and conspiracy as a crime of terrorism – though Faisal’s defense team argued that he never took action and his preachings on Islam were just words.įaisal plans to appeal at the sentencing, his attorney called the evidence against him “razor-thin.” Communications between the officer and Faisal ultimately helped cement the case against a man whose reach extended far beyond his home in Jamaica, prosecutors say. It spanned continents and involved stealth work by an undercover NYPD officer who gained Faisal’s trust by posing as a would-be jihadist.

The sentencing was the culmination of a yearslong investigation by the NYPD’s Intelligence Bureau and the district attorney’s counterterrorism program. “Working with our federal and state law enforcement partners, our office stands at the ready to continue combatting terrorism.” “Tragically, Manhattan will continue to be a target for those who want to harm this country,” Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said. He is the first person to be tried under New York state terror laws passed after the September 11, 2001, attacks, the district attorney’s office said.

Now, Faisal has been sentenced to 18 years in prison.Ī Manhattan court sentenced him Thursday after a nearly three-month trial in which he was found guilty of five terrorism-related charges. They also believe the Muslim cleric is “one of the most influential English-speaking terrorists of our time,” Assistant District Attorney Gary Galperin said during opening statements at Faisal’s trial on state terrorism charges. Abdullah el-Faisal believed every word in a speech by Osama bin Laden was “like a gem,” and thought images of the coffins of US service members were laughable, New York prosecutors say.

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