U.S. District Judge Thomas Russell sentenced 25-year-old Mohanad Shareef Hammadi on Tuesday, hours after 30-year-old co-defendant Waad Ramadan Alwan received a lesser sentence for his cooperation with prosecutors after his arrest in May 2011.
Alwan could have received up to life in prison. But Russell sentenced him to 40 years in prison.
Hammadi's sentencing grew contentious at times as prosecutors accused him of changing his story in an effort to secure less prison time. Hammadi testified during the hearing, speaking of growing up poor in Iraq and saying life was no longer normal after the U.S. invasion in 2003.
Hammadi and Alwan pleaded guilty last year to conspiring to send weapons, cash and explosives to al-Qaida in Iraq.
