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Man Who Talked About Bombing Harvard Gets 2 Years In Jail

A Moroccan man living in Connecticut who told people he wanted to fly bombs on remote-controlled planes into a federal building in Hartford and Harvard University has been sentenced to two years in prison, followed by deportation.

Twenty-seven-year-old El Mehdi Semlali Fathi, who lived in Bridgeport, was sentenced Wednesday in federal court in New Haven. He pleaded guilty in July to perjury in connection with a bogus refugee application.

Fathi's lawyer said his client was joking and didn't have the means to carry out the bombings, but federal prosecutors said they weren't so sure.

Prosecutors said Fathi's guilty plea to perjury played a role in his avoiding a terrorism charge. They say Fathi filed the false refugee application after his student visa expired in 2009.

This article was originally published on October 29, 2014.

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