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Pakistani Convicted in Al-Qaida Plot to Bomb NY Subway


In this courtroom drawing, Abid Naseer, front left, sits next to his court-appointed legal adviser, James Neuman, as they listen to the guilty verdict against Naseer in federal court in Brooklyn, New York, March 4, 2015.
In this courtroom drawing, Abid Naseer, front left, sits next to his court-appointed legal adviser, James Neuman, as they listen to the guilty verdict against Naseer in federal court in Brooklyn, New York, March 4, 2015.

A jury in New York City on Wednesday convicted a Pakistani member of al-Qaida of being part of a plot to attack the city's subway system, a shopping mall in Manchester, England, and a newspaper office in Copenhagen.

Abid Naseer, 28, faces life in prison when he is sentenced at a date to be announced.

Federal prosecutors, including President Barack Obama's choice for the next attorney general, Loretta Lynch, said Naseer and seven other suspects were days away from carrying out their attacks in April 2009. They said the plan was directed by and coordinated with senior al-Qaida leaders in Pakistan.

Lynch said the defendants wanted to send a message to the U.S. and its allies. She called Wednesday's verdict "an even more powerful message in response: The United States will stop at nothing in order to hold those who plot to kill and maim in the name of religion accountable for their grievous crimes."

Naseer was the fourth suspect to be convicted in the al-Qaida plot.

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