BEIRUT (AP) — A Lebanese man was convicted Friday of involvement in a 2006 al-Qaida plot to blow up New York City commuter tunnels, officials said.
A court in Beirut sentenced Assem Hammoud to two years in prison, which he already has served. Two of his accomplices, a Syrian and a Lebanese man, were sentenced in absentia to life in prison.
The FBI said the plotters planned to bomb and flood Hudson River train tunnels that carry tens of thousands of commuters between New York and New Jersey and said they had hoped to pull off the attack in October or November 2006.
Hammoud was arrested in April 2006 in Lebanon and served three years in prison before being released on bail. Lebanese authorities found maps and bombing plans on his computer.
A judicial official said following Friday's verdict that Hammoud had served his sentence and was a free man. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief the media.
There was never an issue of Hammoud's extradition to the United States since there is no extradition treaty between Lebanon and the U.S.
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