New Yorker gets 15 years in prison for supporting al-Qaeda

A New York man has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for funneling more than $60,000 to al-Qaeda and surveilling the New York Stock Exchange for a potential attack, a US attorney announced.

The sentence was handed down on Tuesday after 39-year-old Wesam el-Hanafi admitted to two counts of supporting the terror network, from 2007 to late 2009.

Prosecutors said Hanafi sent approximately $67,000 and other materials, including remote control bombs, to al-Qaeda members.

"Today’s sentence is a fitting punishment for these crimes and we will continue, with our law enforcement partners, to pursue punishment for those who provide and conspire to provide material support for terrorists," said Manhattan US Attorney Preet Bharara.

Hanafi's co-defendant, US-Australian Sabirhan Hasanoff, was jailed for 18 years in New York in 2013 after also pleading guilty to providing support to al-Qaeda.

Hanafi reportedly assigned Hasanoff to surveil the New York Stock Exchange as a potential target for an al-Qaeda attack, and sent his report to operatives in Yemen.

Prosecutors also said Hanafi taught terror groups in Yemen about covert Internet communications techniques and supplied them with encryption tools that would facilitate communicating without detection.

In addition to jail time, Hanafi was also sentenced to three years of supervised release, and ordered to pay a $200 special assessment fee and forfeiture in the amount of $70,000.

Yemeni nationals extradited to US

Also on Tuesday, two Yemeni nationals were arrested on a US warrant in Saudi Arabia for providing material support to al-Qaeda and conspiring to kill US citizens abroad.

Saddiq al-Abbadi, 36, and Ali Alvi, 30, were extradited to New York where they face trial.

Alvi appeared before a federal judge in Brooklyn on Sunday and Abbadi was scheduled to appear before another judge on Tuesday, prosecutors said.

The US government alleges that the pair are members of al-Qaeda who worked alongside the Taliban to attack US troops in eastern Afghanistan in 2008. Prosecutors also accuse Abbadi of fighting against US troops in Iraq from 2003 to 2007.

“The arrest and prosecution of these two individuals, who allegedly directly supported the mission of a designated terrorist organization, is a major step in the international cooperation to combat terrorism,” said FBI Assistant Director in Charge, Andrew McCabe.

Abbadi and Alvi face maximum life sentences if convicted.