US trial of suspected Pakistani al Qaeda operative heads to jury

Naseer faces life in prison if convicted

NEW YORK: Jury deliberations began Tuesday in the trial of a Pakistani man accused by US authorities of participating in an al Qaeda plot to attack targets in Europe and the United States.

A federal judge in Brooklyn dispatched the jury of six men and six women to consider the fate of Abid Naseer, who prosecutors say headed up a al Qaeda cell plotting to bomb a shopping center in Manchester, England, in April 2009.

Naseer, 28, faces life in prison if convicted of providing and conspiring to provide material support to al Qaeda and conspiring to use a destructive device.

The proposed attack was one of three plots al Qaeda cells were working on, along with attacks against the New York City subway system and a Copenhagen newspaper, prosecutors say. Naseer, a self-described semi-professional cricket player, represented himself at trial. He denied any affiliation with al Qaeda or any plot.