SEATTLE, Washington - The sentencing of an Algerian who planned to blow up Los Angeles airport on the eve of the new millennium was Wednesday postponed to July 28 to allow him to help crack Islamic terror networks.
So-called "Millennium Bomber" Ahmed Ressam had been due to be sentenced Wednesday after years of delays designed to ensure his cooperation, but a row erupted between prosecutors and lawyers over how much jail time he should serve.
US District Judge John Coughenour delayed the sentencing until July 28 after Ressam agreed to provide further information on two alleged co-conspirators facing prosecution in Canada and Britain.
Without Ressam`s help, prosecutors said that charges against London-based alleged terror leader Abu Doha and a Canadian named Samir Ait Mohammed, the court in the northwestern US city of Seattle heard.
He was convicted in April 2001 of nine charges, including terrorist conspiracy after striking a deal with prosecutors to help terror investigators in return for a reduction of the possible maximum sentence of 130 years.
Since his conviction, Ressam has provided information on more than 100 suspected terrorists and exposed valuable organisational and training secrets of the Al-Qaeda global terrorist network, his lawyer say.
But prosecutors Wednesday asked for Ressam to be jailed for 35 years, saying the help he provided terror investigators was "minor at best and "overstated by the defence."
They quoted German, British and Italian investigators` complaints that Ressam`s "information was incomplete, his role in helping international terror cases was not very substantial."
Ressam`s lawyers asked for a 12.5-year sentence, saying prosecutors had promised Ressam between 10-15 years behind bars in return for his help.
They portrayed Ressam as a courageous Al-Qaeda defector who had provided information that destabilised and disrupted global Islamic terror networks.
04/27/2005 18:57 GMT