(Canadian Press) A young Canadian convicted of plotting terrorist attacks in New York City was sentenced by an American court on Wednesday to 40 years in prison, his Canadian lawyer said.
The sentence handed down to Abdulrahman El Bahnasawy, 20, came despite defence pleas that the accused was severely mentally ill and a drug addict, and the victim of entrapment.
“He got 40 years,” lawyer Dennis Edney told the Canadian Press in an interview. “Even although we had spent a great deal of time establishing his mental illnesses, his bipolar history, that he suffers psychotic episodes, that he’s addicted to drugs since the age of 14 and failed numerous rehab clinics.”
Edney said U.S. District Judge Richard Berman recognized the accused’s mental illness and acknowledged El Bahnasawy had tried to commit suicide in prison several times.
