Boston
Richard Reid last week admitted trying to blow up a jetliner with explosives hidden in his shoe and declared himself a loyal follower of Osama bin Laden. “Basically I got on the plane with a bomb,” said Reid, 29. “Basically I tried to ignite it. Basically, yeah, I tried to damage the plane.” Reid, a British citizen, won no leniency for his plea. He said he wanted to spare his family the pain of a trial. Reid will be sentenced in January. Prosecutors said they would ask that he be sent to prison for at least 60 years for trying to kill 197 people flying from Paris to Miami in December. In another court in Virginia, a judge sentenced a Californian, John Walker Lindh, to 20 years in prison for fighting with the Taliban in Afghanistan. “You made a bad choice,” Judge T.S. Ellis told Lindh.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
The Week Unwrapped: Will China's 'robot wolves' change wars?Podcast Plus, why are Britain's birds in decline? And are sleeper trains making a comeback?
-
The week's best photosIn Pictures A flower revival, a vibrant carnival, and more
-
Drawing the Italian Renaissance: a 'relentlessly impressive' exhibitionThe Week Recommends Show at the King's Gallery features an 'enormous cache' of works by the likes of Leonardo, Michelangelo and Raphael
