Helping Qaeda lands Queens suspect Hashmi facing 15 years in prison

New York, Apr. 28 (ANI):Syed Hashmi, a resident of New York's Queens area, has sensationally pleaded guilty to providing material support to Al Qaeda on the eve of his trial, and now faces upto 15 years in jail. ccording to New York Daily News, defence lawyers for 30-year-old Hashmi said he was given a fair deal.

"We made the best deal available under the circumstances," said David Ruhnke, one of Hashmi's defense lawyers.

"The government wanted to lock him up for the rest of his life.

They will not succeed in that goal," he added.

The former Brooklyn College student was arrested in London in 2006 and has been held in solitary confinement

His supporters claim he was the victim of guilty by association, while the federal authorities said he was a radical who was in cahoots with terrorists when he lived in New York and later when he went to London for grad school. (ANI)