Omar Abu Ali, center, surrounded by supporters and his son Ahmed Omar Abu Ali's defense. Credit: AP
AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin/AP

Omar Abu Ali, center, surrounded by supporters and his son's defensive team, exits U.S. District Court after his son Ahmed Omar Abu Ali was re-sentenced to life in prison.

An Islamic extremist who plotted to assassinate then-President George W. Bush was re-sentenced to life in prison after a federal appeals court decided his earlier 30-year sentence wasn't harsh enough.

Ahmed Omar Abu Ali, 28, who once lived in the Washington, D.C.-suburb of Falls Church, was convicted in 2005 for joining al-Qaeda in 2002 as a college student in Saudi Arabia.

Abu Ali, a U.S. citizen who was born in Houston, was defiant in court today after U.S. District Judge Gerald Bruce Lee rendered the new sentence. He told Lee:

"I would like to remind you that you too will appear before the divine tribunal with me and everyone else. That day there will be no lawyers ... If you are comfortable with that, you can decree what you will."

 

According to the Associated Press, investigators found that:

Abu Ali met with top al-Qaida leaders in Saudi Arabia and discussed establishing a sleeper cell in the United States.