Iyman Faris, an Ohio truck driver, was sentenced to 20 years in prison for supporting al-Qaeda last night.
He admitted he cased the Brooklyn Bridge in New York to see if it could be destroyed and then tried to withdraw his guilty plea.
US District Judge Leonie Brinkema gave the maximum term possible after rejecting a request by Faris to withdraw the initial guilty plea he entered in a deal with prosecutors. She said he knowingly pleaded guilty and that his credibility now was "in serious question."
She also said that Faris underwent a mental competency examination while awaiting sentencing and that a psychiatrist found he had no significant mental problems.
Faris, a naturalized US citizen, pleaded guilty on May 1st to one count of providing material support to al-Qaeda and another count of conspiracy to provide material support to al-Qaeda.
Faris (34), who was born in Kashmir, showed no emotion when the judge pronounced the sentence. He entered the United States in 1994, became a US citizen five years later and most recently has been a truck driver based in Columbus, Ohio.
"I'm innocent of this charge," Faris told the judge in brief remarks. "I don't have any connection to al-Qaeda" except that a friend was a member of the group.
Faris, whose lawyer said the story about the Brooklyn Bridge was not true, told the judge he wanted "to fool" his FBI investigators so that he could "write a book."