Man who talked about flying bombs into Connecticut building, Harvard gets 2 years in prison
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A Moroccan man living in Connecticut who authorities say told people he wanted to fly bombs on remote-controlled planes into a federal building in Hartford and into Harvard University in Massachusetts has been sentenced to two years in prison, followed by deportation.
Twenty-seven-year-old El Mehdi Semlali Fathi was sentenced Wednesday in federal court in New Haven. The Bridgeport resident pleaded guilty in July to perjury in connection with a bogus refugee application.
Fathi's lawyer says his client was joking and didn't have the means to carry out the bombings, but federal prosecutors say they aren't so sure.
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Prosecutors say 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.