40 years for ‘gent’ terrorist

Plotted vs. subway

A terrorist convicted of plotting to blow up New York’s subways was sentenced to 40 years behind bars Tuesday by a Brooklyn federal judge troubled by how such a “respectful” young “gentleman” went bad.

Abid Naseer, 29, who used female names to refer to bombs and the words “wedding” and “marriage” as code for specific attacks on behalf of al Qaeda, was facing 30 years to life in prison.

“I’m trying to understand how this intelligent young man who has never been arrested before, who was a promising cricket player and comes from a good family, how you go from that to this?’’ Judge Raymond Dearie asked Naseer (pictured). “As much as I searched to try to understand, I don’t. You’re clever, you’re a gentleman and you’re respectful.”

Naseer was the eighth defendant to face charges in Brooklyn related to the plots. James Neuman, his courtappointed legal adviser, asked the judge for a lighter sentence, but Dearie brushed him off.

“Let’s assume Mr. Naseer and his colleagues had been successful. Would we be having this conversation?” the judge asked.

Assistant US Attorney Zainab Ahmad argued for a life sentence, noting, “Had he and his coconspirators not been stopped, hundreds, if not thousands, of people would be dead today.’’

Naseer, who is from Pakistan, has denied any link to al Qaeda and denounced terrorism, saying at the sentencing, “It is my firm intention to achieve my masters in comput ing,” adding that he also wants to start a family.

But the judge rebutted, “You are a terrorist. The evidence establishes that. The British commission established that.”

A federal jury in Brooklyn convicted Naseer in March for conspiring in the al Qaeda plots.

He was first arrested in 2009 in the UK for allegedly planning to blow up a Manchester mall, and was indicted in federal district court in Brooklyn in 2010. He was extradited to the US in 2013.

British authorities never charged Naseer, saying there was not enough evidence against him.

Still, Naseer said he wanted to serve his time in a UK prison.

Dearie replied he had no objection, noting, “The only border that really counts is the one between good and evil, and you are on the wrong side of that.”

It’s unlikely, though, that the UK would imprison a man not convicted of a crime there.

Neuman said he would be appealing the conviction on the grounds that Naseer should not have been permitted to represent himself at the trial.