Judge Refuses to Sentence Najibullah Zazi's Father as Terrorist
Mohammed Zazi, father of Najibullah Zazi, the Colorado resident convicted in New York of planning a subway terror attack, was sentenced to 4 1/2 years in prison today for obstruction of justice (lying to the FBI), conspiring to destroy his son's chemicals, goggles and paper masks (stored at his brother-in-law's house) and visa fraud. The visa fraud pertained to his falsely stating on on a visa application for his nephew that his nephew was his son. (Zazi came to the U.S. in 1990 and in 2007 became a naturalized U.S. Citizen.)
Prosecutors asked for 30 years, seeking to have him sentenced as a terrorist under the Sentencing Guidelines. The probation department agreed and concluded his guidelines were 360 months to life. Zazi asked for probation.
The judge rejected the request to sentence him as a terrorist. While he told Zazi his lies could have cost a lot of lives, he concluded "He wanted to keep his kid out of jail." [More...]