The father of terrorist Najibullah Zazi has been sentenced to 4 1/2 years in prison for obstructing justice in the FBI investigation of his son's plot to bomb New York City subways.
Mohammed Wali Zazi was sentenced Friday in Brooklyn on charges including conspiracy and obstruction of justice.
Prosecutors said the former cab driver from Colorado tried to cover up his son's 2009 plot to attack the subway system.
Najibullah Zazi admitted that he returned from Pakistan to the family's Colorado home to practice making homemade bombs. He then drove to New York with plans to attack the subways.
Instead, he learned he was being watched by the FBI and fled back to Colorado.
Mohammed Zazi said in court: "I ask for forgiveness," and said if he goes to jail his family may go live in Afghanistan to get support from relatives there.
But Judge John Gleeson said his obstruction was serious and that he knew of his son's link to al-Qaida.
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"When someone is going to bomb a New York City subway, every lie matters," Gleeson said.
