Pakistani man convicted for al-Qaida plot

A Pakistani man was convicted on US charges of participating in an al Qaida plot to attack targets in Europe and the United States.Abid Naseer, 28, was found guilty by a federal jury in Brooklyn of providing and conspiring to provide material support to al Qaida and conspiring to use a destructive device.

Naseer remained expressionless as the jury returned the verdict after less than two days of deliberation. He faces life in prison. His lawyer said after the conviction that he would appeal, reported media from US.

US prosecutors said Naseer, 28, headed up an al Qaida cell plotting to bomb a shopping center in Manchester, England, in April 2009.The proposed attack was one of three plots affiliated al Qaida cells were working on, along with attacks against the New York City subway system and a Copenhagen newspaper, prosecutors said.

Naseer was convicted nearly six years after he was first arrested in a British anti-terrorism operation. While British authorities ultimately never charged Naseer, he was later indicted in the United States and extradited in 2013.

Naseer represented himself at trial. He denied any affiliation with al Qaida or any plot.

Less than a week ago, a Manhattan federal jury convicted Khalid al-Fawwaz, a Saudi man prosecutors described as a trusted adviser to Osama bin Laden, in connection with the 1998 bombings of US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.