Dutch citizen sentenced for Iraq attacks plot
Source: Reuters
WASHINGTON, April 16 (Reuters) - An Iraqi-born Dutch citizen was sentenced on Thursday to 25 years in prison for conspiring to murder Americans overseas by planting roadside bombs targeting U.S. soldiers in Iraq between 2003 and 2005. U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman in Washington went along with the terms of a plea agreement reached by both sides in the case of Wesam al Delaema, 36, and approved the 25-year prison sentence, the Justice Department said. Delaema was arrested by Dutch authorities in May 2005 and extradited to the United States in 2007. His case marked the first U.S. criminal prosecution of suspected activity in Iraq. Delaema had admitted that he had demonstrated on a video how roadside bombs would be detonated to destroy American vehicles and their occupants in the Iraqi city of Fallujah. He also pleaded guilty to assault for a December 2007 incident at the Washington jail, when he kicked a prison guard who was on the ground, causing severe injuries. Under the plea deal, the Justice Department and Delaema had agreed on a prison sentence of 25 years for conspiring to murder U.S. nationals overseas and an 18-month sentence, to be served at the same time, for the assault. Under an agreement between the United States and the Netherlands, Delaema will serve his sentence in the Netherlands, the department said. A Dutch judge must decide how much prison time he will serve in that country and whether to uphold the 25-year term. "The sentence imposed today should serve notice that the United States will use all available tools to pursue those who would plot attacks against our men and women serving in Iraq," Assistant Attorney General David Kris said in a statement. (Reporting by James Vicini; editing by Mohammad Zargham)
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