Prosecutors push for strong sentence in terror plot trial

Federal prosecutors in Manhattan urged a judge on Monday to impose a substantial sentence this week on a Tunisian man who "adamantly" refused to get involved in terror plots because he refused for "the wrong reasons" -- they wouldn't kill enough Americans.

Ahmed Abassi, 27, was accused last year of links to a plot to derail a Canadian train and of coming to the United States to develop a terror network. But the government last month dropped all terrorism charges and let him plead guilty to lying on visa papers in an effort to reunify with his Canadian wife.

Although federal guidelines call for him to get just six months or less in jail, the government urged U.S. District Judge Miriam Cedarbaum to impose more time because he expressed "dangerous, extremist" views while refusing efforts by another suspect and an undercover FBI agent to recruit him into particular plots.

"One reason Abassi gave for not participating was that the number of American casualties from such an operation would be too few," prosecutors told the judge.

Abassi's sentencing is scheduled for tomorrow. He has already been in jail for a year, and his lawyer, who claims he was entrapped, has asked the judge to release him and deport him to Tunisia. He faces a maximum of six years.