A man who pleaded guilty to federal terrorism charges nine years ago after being accused of plotting a suicide bombing at Heathrow Airport in London in support of Al Qaeda’s Yemeni affiliate was sentenced on Tuesday to 44 years in prison.
Prosecutors said that the man, Minh Quang Pham, planned the bombing after having received military training in Yemen from Anwar al-Awlaki, an American-born radical Muslim cleric and a leader of the Al Qaeda affiliate in Yemen. The United States later killed him in a drone strike.
The sentencing of Mr. Pham, 41, in Federal District Court in Manhattan, appeared to conclude a winding case that began with his indictment in New York on several terrorism counts in 2012 and his extradition to the United States from Britain in 2015.
“Minh Quang Pham’s actions were not just an affront to the safety of this country, but to the principles of peace and security that we hold dear,” Danielle R. Sassoon, the U.S. attorney in Manhattan, said. “Today’s sentencing underscores our resolve to stop terrorism before it occurs.”
A lawyer for Mr. Pham, Bobbi Sternheim, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Mr. Pham was born in Vietnam, moved to Britain as a child, worked as a web designer and converted to Islam. The events that led to his conviction and sentencing began in late 2010 when he traveled to Yemen, the base of operations for Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP, according to court documents.
Mr. Pham planned to join the terrorist group, wage jihad on its behalf and martyr himself for its cause, prosecutors said. While in Yemen, he received training from Awlaki, who advised him to return to Britain and recruit others to the cause, according to court documents.
Before leaving Yemen, prosecutors said, Mr. Pham approached Awlaki about undertaking a suicide mission.
Awlaki personally taught Mr. Pham how to create a deadly explosive device using household chemicals and directed him to detonate such a device at an area of Heathrow where flights arrived from the United States or Israel, according to court documents.
During this period, prosecutors said, Mr. Pham made various videos, some of which showed him preparing the device. In others, he encouraged people to engage in violent jihad.
He was detained upon arriving at Heathrow in July 2011 after the authorities searched him and found, among other things, a live round of armor-piercing ammunition, according to court documents.
He was released, and was arrested again several months later under British immigration law, prosecutors said. Searches of his home and other locations yielded several pieces of electronic media that showed he had been viewing Awlaki’s speeches and writings since returning to Britain, according to court documents.
Mr. Pham pleaded guilty in January 2016 to providing material support to Al Qaeda, to conspiring to receive military-type training from the group and to using a firearm in furtherance of violent crimes. He was sentenced several months later to 40 years in prison.
The conviction was subsequently vacated, partly at the request of federal prosecutors, according to court filings. A grand jury later returned a superseding indictment that reinstated several of the original charges and that added new ones. Mr. Pham entered a second guilty plea in May 2023, setting the stage for the sentencing on Tuesday.
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