Student Gets Life in German Train-Bombing Plot

LONDON, Dec. 9 -- A Lebanese college student was convicted and sentenced to life in prison Tuesday for his role in a 2006 plot to plant suitcase bombs on two German commuter trains.

Youssef Mohammed el-Hajdib, 24, was found guilty by a German court in the city of Duesseldorf of attempted murder and other crimes. Although the bombs failed to detonate, a prosecutor, Duscha Gmel, said, "Germany has never been closer to an Islamist attack than in this case."

Hajdib, who was living in Germany to pursue his education, admitted plotting with another man to leave the suitcases on two trains that departed the city of Cologne on July 31, 2006. He said they were angered by the publication in German newspapers of cartoons lampooning the prophet Muhammad and Muslims as terrorists.

Hajdib asserted that the devices were rigged so that they could not explode and were meant to only scare the public. "I swear by God almighty that I had no intention to kill anyone," he said during testimony on Dec. 3.

A panel of judges didn't believe him. "The fact that it did not come to a devastating bloodbath with a multitude of deaths was thanks only to an error by the defendant . . . in constructing the bombs," said Ottmar Breidling, the presiding judge in the case.

Hajdib was given a life sentence, although under normal practice in Germany, defendants rarely serve more than 15 years behind bars.

He did not speak after his conviction and sentence were read aloud in court. But he flashed an obscene gesture to reporters in the courtroom as he was led away.

Bernd Rosenkranz, a lawyer for Hajdib, said his client would appeal.

Hajdib came to Germany in 2004 to attend college, but he had a tough time with his studies and gradually became radicalized, according to testimony during the year-long trial.

Witnesses said he tried to persuade other Muslims to become extremists and made no secret of his admiration for Osama bin Laden, although there was no evidence that he joined any organized terrorist groups or acted on their behalf.

Authorities said he built the bombs with Jihad Hamad, another Lebanese national studying in Germany. Security cameras captured the pair loading the suitcases at the Cologne train station.

Police said the devices consisted of propane tanks hidden inside the suitcases. Gasoline, diesel fuel and nails were added to the mix in an attempt to magnify their destructive power, court officials said.

Police estimated that each suitcase bomb, if it had exploded as designed, could have resulted in a fireball up to 50 feet in diameter and killed scores of people, court spokesman Ulrich Eggers told reporters after the verdict.

Hajdib and Hamad fled Germany after planting the bombs on the trains. They flew to Istanbul and then traveled to their native Lebanon. Hajdib returned to Germany months later and was arrested.

Hamad was arrested in Lebanon and tried there for his role in the crime. He was found guilty in December 2007 and sentenced to 12 years in prison.

Special correspondent Shannon Smiley in Berlin contributed to this report.