Algerian sentenced for LA bomb plot

Mokhtar Haouari had asked for a shorter sentence

An Algerian has been sentenced to 24 years in prison for conspiring to bomb Los Angeles International Airport during the city's millennial celebrations.

Mokhtar Haouari, 32, had asked via his attorney for a lower sentence of 17 years, but US District Court Judge John Keenan gave him the maximum term after determining that Haouari's conduct "posed a great risk to the well-being of the American people".

Haouari, who formerly owned a gift store in Montreal, Canada, was found guilty in July last year of plotting to bomb the airport, after two days of jury deliberations.

At the time prosecutors claimed that the plot, if successful, could have led to the worst act of terrorism on American soil since the 1995 Oklahoma bombing, which killed 168 people.

Co-conspirator testimony

Much of Haouari's trial hinged on testimony from two fellow Algerians, including Ahmed Ressam, for whom he had falsified a driver's licence and given $3,000 to buy equipment.

Ressam said Haouari gave him a false driver's licence and money for the mission

Ressam was himself arrested in December 1999 as he tried to smuggle a carload of explosives into the United States from Canada.

He has since been found guilty of various charges ranging from explosives smuggling to planning to commit acts of terrorism, and is awaiting sentencing.

Ressam claimed that Haouari, in addition to obtaining a false driver's licence for him, had lent him money for the mission.

He agreed to testify against Haouari in return for a lighter sentence.

The other convicted plotter, Abdel Ghani Meskini, was recruited by Haouari to visit Seattle in 1999 to plan the attack.

Prosecutors condemned

Defence lawyers at the time condemned the government for relying on the evidence of convicted terrorists.

Prosecutors conceded that the witnesses were flawed, but insisted they were honest in their testimony.

The prosecution accepted that Haouari did not know the details of the plot but said he was aware that he was helping with a terrorist mission.