New Yorker who sent $67K to Al Qaeda gets 15 years
An American citizen who sent nearly $70,000 to Al Qaeda was sentenced to 15 years in prison on Tuesday.
Wesam El-Hanafi has spent the last five years incarcerated, and US District Judge Kimba Wood cited his poor health and remorse as reasons for not giving him the maximum 20-year sentence.
El-Hanafi was born in Brooklyn, and worked as an information technology specialist at an investment bank. He received training in computer security that he then used to aid terrorists overseas.
"He was living the American dream and then he turned his back on America and pledged allegiance to our greatest enemy," Assistant US Attorney John Cronan told Judge Wood in Manhattan court. "The defendant was all in with Al Qaeda."
Cronan said that from 2007 to 2009, El-Hanafi "worked tirelessly to support Al Qaeda," including sending them $67,000, and a remote control car to be used as an explosive device. The 39-year-old also provided the terrorists with information on encryption software, and directed a co-conspirator to surveil the New York Stock Exchange.
"Wesam El-Hanafi was deeply involved in supporting al-Qaida both financially and by facilitating surveillance of a New York landmark to bring an attack to our homeland in our city," US Attorney Preet Bharara said in a statement. "Today's sentence is a fitting punishment for these crimes."
Judge Wood found that the defendant's health deteriorated while in custody, and that he faced a "significantly harsher" incarceration because of his conditions. She also considered El-Hanafi's statements of regret.
"I didn't just make the wrong choices. I made the worst choices," he, said apologising. "I regret my actions. I'm embarrassed by what I did."
"He knows he must live with the horror of what he's done," defense attorney Sarah Kunstler echoed.
El-Hanafi was brought back to the United States from Dubai to face his crimes and pled guilty in June 2012 to providing and conspiring to provide material support to terrorists. His co-defendant, Sabirhan Hasanoff, received 18 years imprisonment.
