ARAB-US RELATIONS - Jan. 30 - 'Shoe-Bomber' Sentenced To Life In Prison.

Richard Reid, the "shoe-bomber" who tried to blow up a Paris-to-Miami American Airlines flight with explosives hidden in his shoes on Dec. 22, 2001, is sentenced to life plus 110 years in prison and fined $2m in Boston. Judge William Young ignores Reid's lawyers' pleas for a lighter sentence of 30 years with a possibility of parole. Young says he hopes the harsher stance will deter further terrorist activity. Reid, a British citizen aged 29, gave a brief but defiant speech, accusing the US of the torture of millions of Muslims and saying Allah would be his judge. He said: "I admit my actions. I am at war with your country because they have murdered so many". One crew member gave an emotional plea for a life sentence for Reid, saying she could "still see the faces of the children" on the flight after his intentions had been discovered. (Reid put lit matches to his tennis shoes while aboard. After crew and passengers subdued him, Reid's shoes were found to contain plastic explosives. Because of the low-technology style of the mission, US authorities once believed Reid was acting with no support from Al Qaida. But officials decided later that Reid had received training in Afghanistan and had travelled the world in connection with the terrorist organisation. After pleading guilty in Oct. 2002, Reid admitted he was an Al Qaida member and called himself an "enemy of the United States". Since his arrest more than a dozen suspected terrorists with alleged ties to Reid have been taken into custody in Paris and London. Earlier this month British police raided the mosque where Reid had worshipped and detained a number of men).