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Ottawa X-ray Technologist Sentenced to 12 Years in Terror Plot

A former Ottawa x-ray technologist was sentenced Thursday to 12 years in prison for conspiring to facilitate terrorism, officials said.

Misbahuddin Ahmed, 30, was convicted in July, but was acquitted of a more serious charge of bomb-making for terrorist purposes.

He was convicted of "conspiring to facilitate a terrorist activity," Canada's Public Prosecution office said Thursday, adding that he has 30 days to appeal the ruling. 

The sentencing came a day after a gunman shot a soldier dead in Ottawa and stormed the capital's parliament building before he was killed by a federal officer. 

The attack was unrelated to Ahmed's case. 

Ahmed and two alleged co-conspirators had been arrested in police raids in 2010.

Authorities said he and his accomplices had plotted to attack a repatriation ceremony at a Canadian military base usually attended by the minister of defense and chief of the defense staff.

Police had said the accused were in possession of a horde of material for making improvised explosive devices, including schematics, videos, drawings, instructions, books and electrical components.

During raids on the homes of the suspects, authorities said they also seized more than 50 electronic circuit boards that could be used in remote detonators.

The alleged ringleader of the terror cell Hiva Alizadeh pleaded guilty to the bomb-possession charges in a plea deal that saw him sentenced in September to 24 years in prison.

A third man, Khurram Sher, a Canadian doctor of Pakistani heritage who once auditioned for a televised talent show, was acquitted at trial of terrorism the previous month.

Source: Agence France Presse


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