The Guardian
November 6, 2015
A Pakistani man convicted in March in a US court of conspiring with al-Qaida to bomb a shopping centre in Manchester, England should spend 30 years to life in prison, US prosecutors said.
Abid Naseer, 29, poses an “extreme danger” to society given his “continued commitment” to cause mass casualties designed to rival the September 11 attacks, prosecutors said in a letter filed late on Tuesday night.
Naseer was convicted of plotting to blow up the Arndale shopping center in the centre of Manchester as early as April 2009, when he was arrested by British authorities.
The attack was one of three that US prosecutors said affiliated cells were working on, including attacks against the New York City subway and a Copenhagen newspaper.
Najibullah Zazi, who pleaded guilty to the New York plot, testified against Naseer that both men coordinated their plans through coded emails with an al-Qaida operative in Pakistan.