Irfan Ul Haq, 37 - who last September pleaded guilty along with two other Pakistanis to conspiracy to provide support to a terror organization - was sentenced to 50 months in jail by a US federal judge in Washington on Thursday.
The other two men were sentenced last month to 40 months and 36 months in prison over the same plot, carried out between January and March 2011. All three men have agreed to return to Pakistan following their sentences.
"Haq conspired with others to smuggle into the United States an individual who was believed to be a member of a foreign terrorist organization," Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer said in a statement.
"Such conduct presents a serious threat to our national security."
The US Justice Department said undercover law enforcement agents had directed "confidential sources" to contact the three men - then residing in Ecuador - to request help in smuggling a fictitious individual, said to be a member of the Pakistani Taliban, into the United States.
Haq, according to the court documents, told the sources it was "not their concern" what the men "want to do in the United States - hard labor, sweep floor, wash dishes in a hotel, or blow up. That will be up to them."
It said the three men accepted payment for the operation, without specifying how much, and that they produced a false Pakistani passport.
The sting operation was carried out by the US Department of Homeland Security, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Ecuadorian national police, the Justice Department said.
The three men, who were arrested in Miami on March 13, had faced a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.
COMMENTS (13)
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@Tony C.: WOW, please provide evidence that the accused pleaded guilty "because he had been tortured for several months in the best American traditions", or did you just dream this charge up in your best conspiracy theory mindset?
This is simply targeting of Muslims by Christians. There are Christian terrorists and imperialists but no Muslim terrorists or imperialists, at least not the Talibans the ex ruling party of Afghanistan. Muslim World should counter attack the Christian World.
They pleaded guilty for reduced jail time. In addition, they know that they have no future in the US, so why not get deported ASAP? It is the most pragmatic approach to avoid long hard fight and longer jail time.
I think he pleaded guilty because...he was guilty. Perhaps the terrorism charges were a bit much but he kind of acknowledged that even if people were coming to blow things up he didn't care. The sting involved him knowing that the person being smuggled was a terrorist so the terrorism charge was added. Pleading guilty allowed the sentences to be so lenient, the longest sentence is 50 months. There are many Pakistanis (and Muslims for that matter) living in the US and Canada who don't have these issues. If you follow the law, you don't have these types of problems (I mean for the average citizen. The government would get involved in defaming people of anti-establishment groups like BPP or NOI but thats another matter).
For all those of you who say Irfan Ul Haq is an innocent Pakistani and wrongly entraped - good. Then have the same courage to say the same of Husain Haqqani. Otherwise, it will show that you all are having a double standard (as usual).
@Siddique Malik: Dear Siddique Malik, Do you think that perhaps Mr. Irfan Ul Haq pleaded guilty because he had been tortured for several months in the best American traditions? Do you think that perhaps he had been threatened with indefinite detention and torture, under the Patriot Act, unless he pleaded guilty? Do you think that perhaps his Attorney advised him to plead guilty because he knew what the intelligence agencies would do if he did not? Do think this may be a case of entrapment and Mr. Haq was a dupe and a patsy? Do you think that four years is a very light sentence for someone who has committed an act of terror? Do you think the judge was not wholly convinced and gave the lightest possible sentence? These are just a few suggestions as to what may have happened but they could help people who think this is an open-and-shut-case!
@DB: It's funny; someone who is secretive even about his/her name is accusing America of being secretive. Even if, for the sake of argument, we assume that the figment of your imagination i.e. "secret evidence and undisclosed witnesses" is true, why would the accused plead guilty? Why would an accused cooperate with the judicial system unless he knows he is guilty? Siddique Malik, Louisville, Kentucky, USA.
@Cautious: Because what choice do you have but to plead guilty when the US can us secret evidence and undisclosed witnesses?
This guy was wrongly accused of terror charges, when he was just a illegal smuggler.
@Mohammad Ali Siddiqui: Because my dear brother most of the charges are part of the "conspiracy theories" floating around in Pakistan. They seldom have a modicum of truth - Raymond Davis apart.
because 26/11 never happened in Pakistan
Why Pakistan didn’t has not yet sentence any American involved in terrorist activities in Pakistan?