CAM SIMPSON

http://online.wsj.co...

By CAM SIMPSON

WASHINGTON -- A Qatari man who admitted working with the mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks received a lighter prison sentence than the government sought after a federal judge cited the government's decision to jail the al Qaeda operative without charge for almost six years.

Ali al-Marri, 44, was eligible for a term of up to 15 years in prison under federal sentencing guidelines, but received only an eight-year sentence from U.S. District Judge Michael Mihm, of Peoria, Ill. Judge Mihm dropped 71 months from the sentence, because that's how long President George W. Bush kept the former Bradley University graduate student in isolation at a U.S. Navy brig in South Carolina.