Teacher Sentenced for Aiding Terrorists

Federal investigators also found a CD-ROM in Chandia's car containing videos that glorified Osama bin Laden and the 19 hijackers who carried out the Sept. 11 attacks, prosecutors said.

The divergent views of the case were evident in the reaction to Chandia's sentencing.

"Terrorist organizations like Lashkar-i-Taiba rely on a network of individuals to carry out their deadly operations," U.S. Attorney Chuck Rosenberg said after the sentencing.

"Ali Asad Chandia was a member of that network for Lashkar-i-Taiba, and he will now spend a very long period of time in prison for providing material support in furtherance of its violent agenda," Rosenberg added.

Marvin D. Miller, an attorney for Chandia, called the sentence "excessive. It's way beyond what is necessary."

He said the 30-years-to-life term sought by the government was "irrational and almost bordering on cultural bias."

The Ali Asad Support Committee, which raised money for Chandia's defense, said in a statement that Chandia "never posed a danger to any American citizen."

"The American government has engaged in policies and practices which are targeting, harassing and persecuting Muslims whose crime seems primarily to be that they are God-fearing people," the statement said. "Ali Asad Chandia has joined those ranks."

But some of Chandia's supporters expressed relief. "Fifteen years is a lot better than life in prison," said Jafar Meredith, a local Muslim who attended the hearing. "We're grateful that it wasn't life."

Staff writer Mary Beth Sheridan contributed to this report.