The U.S. Supreme Court has turned down the appeal of a U.S. citizen convicted of joining al-Qaida and plotting to assassinate former President George W. Bush.
Ahmed Omar Abu Ali was arrested in 2003 in Saudi Arabia while attending a university. Lawyers for the U.S.-born Abu Ali say he was tortured into confessing by Saudi interrogators.
He was transferred to the United States for trial, convicted in federal court and sentenced to 30 years in prison. A U.S. federal appeals court last year ordered a new sentencing hearing, ruling the judge did not follow federal sentencing guidelines that called for life in prison.
Abu Ali's lawyers also challenged classified information that was shown to a U.S. jury that he was not allowed to see.
In other decisions Monday, the Supreme Court denied an appeal by Holocaust survivors seeking to undo a settlement by other survivors and an Italian insurance company over the company's refusal to honor policies held by Holocaust victims.
The rulings came as Supreme Court Justice Ruth Ginsburg returned to the bench in her first public appearance since undergoing surgery for pancreatic cancer earlier this month.
Some information for this report was provided by AP and Reuters.
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