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29 March 2024

Man pleads guilty to trying to set up Al Qaida camp in US

In this courtroom sketch, defendant Haroon Aswat, center, sits next to his attorney Peter Quijano, left, while Assistant US Attorney Ian McGinley, right, speaks during Aswat's guilty plea sentencing in federal court. (AP)

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By Staff

A British man pleaded guilty to US charges of attempting to set-up an Al Qaida training camp in Oregon.

Haroon Aswat, 40, who is  mentally ill, admitted in court on Monday that he travelled to Oregon in 1999 following instructions Mustafa Kamel Mustafa, a radical cleric based in London, to help train recruits "who wanted to participate in jihad on behalf of a terrorist organisation," reported ‘kgw.com

He told the judge that he had been diagnosed with schizophrenia at age 20. However, the judge ruled that the sentencing could go forward because the defendant was under medical care and showing no symptoms.

Aswat faces up to 20 years in prison if sentenced. It was unclear whether he could get credit for the nearly 10 years he spent behind bars in the UK fighting extradition to US. He was sentenced this year to life in prison following a trial in the same courthouse.

Aswat was charged in 2005 in the plot to establish the camp for military training at a site known as Dog Cry Ranch. But the camp never materialized beyond a dozen people taking target practice, authorities said.