ALEXANDRIA, Virginia, 31 March 2006 — An American- Muslim convicted of joining Al-Qaeda and plotting to assassinate President Bush was sentenced to 30 years behind bars by a judge who compared him to “American Taleban” John Walker Lindh.

Prosecutors had asked for the maximum — a life sentence — for Ahmed Omar Abu Ali, a 25-year-old US citizen who was born to a Jordanian father and raised in Falls Church.

Authorities said Abu Ali went to Saudi Arabia in 2002 out of hatred for the United States. The Saudis arrested him in June 2003 as he was taking final exams at the Islamic University of Madinah. “The facts of this case are still astonishing,” prosecutor David Laufman said. “Barely a year after Sept. 11 the defendant joined the organization responsible for 3,000 deaths.”

But US District Judge Gerald Bruce Lee said Wednesday that 30 years was sufficient punishment, pointing out that Lindh received a 20-year sentence. Abu Ali’s actions “did not result in one single actual victim. That fact must be taken into account.”

Abu Ali, wearing a green prison jumpsuit, declined to speak before his sentence was imposed. Defense lawyers said they plan to appeal. He was convicted in November of conspiracy to assassinate the president, conspiracy to hijack aircraft and providing support to Al-Qaeda, among other crimes.

The jury in the three-week trial saw a videotaped confession Abu Ali gave to the Saudis in which he said he joined Al-Qaeda because he hated the United States for its support of Israel. He claimed that the Saudis had extracted a confession from him through torture. Prosecutors denied he was mistreated.

In February, defense lawyers asked for a review of the conviction in light of the disclosure that the Bush administration had eavesdropped on suspected terrorists’ conversations without search warrants. Abu Ali’s lawyers said they suspected, but had no firm evidence, that Abu Ali had been a target of the surveillance program.

The government’s response was not made public, but the judge decided to go ahead with the sentencing after receiving it.