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Jordanian man sentenced to 24 years in prison for attempting to blow up skyscraper in U.S. state Texas

20 October 2010 01:45 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. A Jordanian man was sentences to 24 years in prison on Tuesday for attempting to blow up a skyscraper in the U.S. state of Texas, APA reports quoting Xinhua News Agency.

Twenty-year-old Hosam Smadi could face up to life in prison after pleading guilty in May to attempted use of a weapon of mass construction. But under a plea agreement, he received a reduced sentence.

Smadi was arrested on Sept. 24, 2009, after federal officials said he knowingly left what he thought was a truck bomb in a garage beneath the 60-story Fountain Place Building in downtown Dallas, Texas. The device, given to him by undercover FBI agents, turned out to be a fake device.

Addressing the court Tuesday, Smadi apologized for his bomb plot. "Your honor, I’m ashamed of what I did. I am very sorry for my actions ... I could not have lived with myself if I had hurt anyone."

At the hearing Monday, Smadi’s father, Maher Smadi, one of his teachers and a neighbor testified how Smadi went from being a quiet boy to a depressed young man.