Adis Medunjanin, NYC man, convicted of subway terror plot

Adis Medunjanin, a US citizen, was found guilty on Tuesday of plotting a suicide bomb attack targeting the New York City subway, according to the BBC.

Medunjanin was convicted by a federal jury of plotting, along with two former schoolmates, to bomb the subway on the anniversary of 9/11 in 2009.

The prosecution said the men trained in Pakistan with Al Qaeda before they agreed to carry out the attacks, while the defense lawyers argued that US agents coerced Medunjanin and intimidated his family, according to the BBC.

In his closing arguments, Assistant US Attorney Berit Berger said, "What he was willing to do was to strap a suicide bomb to himself, walk into a New York City subway and blow it up," according to Reuters.

Berger added, "The goal of this conspiracy was to kill as many people as possible," according to the Associated Press.

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Defense attorney Robert Gottlieb said he would appeal, but also stressed that a trial in the US court system was better for prosecuting suspected terrorists than a military tribunal. He said, "The world and our national government including all our politicians should take note that this is the way crimes should be decided, not in a military commission, not in a star chamber, but in America," according to the AP.

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Najibullah Zazi and Zarein Ahmedzay, Medunjanin's co-conspirators, both pled guilty to planning the attacks and cooperated with the government during the trial, according to Reuters.

Medunjanin will be sentenced on Sept. 7, and could face a life sentence in prison, said the AP.

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