N.Y. man turned cooperating witness avoids prison for al Shabaab plot
By Nate Raymond NEW YORK (Reuters) - A New York man whose testified against his childhood friend in a 2011 terrorism trial was spared prison on Wednesday for his role in a plot - that he abandoned midway - to aid the Islamic militant group al Shabaab. Sulejmah Hadzovic, 26, received five years of probation from U.S. District Judge John Gleeson in Brooklyn, who said the sentence should send a message to young men who walk away from militant causes and cooperate with authorities. "They need to know that as long as they do it before real, on-the-ground damage is done, it's not too late to turn back," he said. Prosecutors, in a rare move in a terrorism case, made no recommendation for a sentence for Hadzovic, who faced 15 years in prison after pleading guilty in 2009 to conspiring to provide material support to terrorists. Instead, Seth DuCharme, an assistant U.S. attorney, said Hadzovic's assistance was key to disrupting a possible attack by his friend, Betim Kaziu, that prosecutors had limited visibility into. "There were areas of shadows, and Mr. Hadzovic turned on a light bulb," he said. Hadzovic, who lived in New York, testified at the trial of Kaziu, who was sentenced in 2012 to 27 years in prison for attempting to provide material support to al Shabaab. Prosecutors said Kaziu and Hadzovic in 2009 traveled to Cairo and sought to link up with foreign militant groups targeting the United States. As part of that goal, the two attempted to reach Somalia to join al Shabaab, a militant group the United States designates as a foreign terrorist organization. They also made efforts to reach Pakistan, Afghanistan and the Balkans, prosecutors said. But after a few months overseas, Hadzovic had a change of heart, and ultimately returned to the United States, while Kaziu remained in Egypt, prosecutors said. Kaziu was arrested in August 2009 in Kosovo, after Hadzovic began cooperating with authorities. Evidence seized during the arrest indicated Kaziu was on the verge of launching an attack, possibly against a NATO military base, prosecutors said. A federal appeals court last year rejected Kaziu's challenges to his 2011 conviction. In court Wednesday, Hadzovic, who is studying for an economics degree and plans to get married, said the case was a "nightmare" but had pushed him to improve his life. "I try your honor as much as I can to be a better person, not just today but forever after," Hadzovic said. (Reporting by Nate Raymond in New York; Editing by Steve Orlofsky)
