NEW YORK (AP) – A Pakistani man was found guilty Wednesday in a failed al-Qaida bomb plot after a New York trial that featured spies in disguise, evidence from the raid on Osama bin Laden’s compound and the defendant’s questioning of an admitted co-conspirator.
The jury reached the verdict in federal court in Brooklyn after beginning deliberations Tuesday morning. No date was set for sentencing.
Abid Naseer was first arrested in 2009 in Great Britain on charges he was part of a terror cell plotting to blow up a shopping mall in Manchester, England. The charges were dropped after a British court found there wasn’t enough evidence, but U.S. prosecutors later named him in an indictment that alleged a broader conspiracy that included a failed plot to attack the New York City subway.
After his rearrest and extradition to the United States in 2013, Naseer pleaded not guilty to providing and conspiring to provide material support to al-Qaida and conspiring to use a destructive device.
He acted as his own lawyer, often referring to himself in the third person as he set about portraying himself as a moderate Muslim who was falsely accused. He was assisted by a court-appointed attorney but largely spoke for himself and demonstrated a calm demeanor in court.