"There are thousands and thousands of ordinary, decent, hardworking, law-abiding Muslims - British citizens just like you - who have to live their lives under a deep cloud of suspicion and distrust caused by you and others like you," Butterfield said.

Inayat Bunglawala of the Muslim Council of Britain said he feared the case would add to prejudice against Muslims.

"I think there is concern about wider public attitude toward Muslims, attitudes that already had the whiff of the lynch mob about them," Bunglawala said.

The sentence was unusually harsh in Britain, where only around 25 people have received terms that condemn them to die behind bars. By comparison, an IRA hitman who in 1984 tried to assassinate former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher with a bomb was sentenced to life without possibility of parole for 35 years.

The severe punishment was well deserved, said Peter Clarke, Britain's top anti-terrorist detective: "He is a long-term, dedicated, committed member of al-Qaida."

Investigators uncovered some of the evidence stored on computers seized at the home of an alleged al-Qaida computer expert in Pakistan in July 2004, prosecutors said. Additional clues were found in the garages and homes of Barot's seven alleged accomplices.

A videotape shot while Barot was visiting New York in March 2001 was among evidence uncovered in the haul. The shaky footage - shown on screens in the courthouse ¡ª zoomed in on the World Trade Center's twin towers as a man is heard mimicking the sound of an explosion. It was found spliced into a videotape copy of the movie "Die Hard With A Vengeance."

"It is memorable for its macabre prophecy," Lawson said. Barot is not believed to have had prior knowledge of the Sept. 11 attacks.

Officials in the U.S. said previously they would consider extraditing Barot once the British case against him was concluded. Federal prosecutors in Manhattan could not say Tuesday if they intended to proceed with the request.

The Associated Press, The British Broadcasting Corp., and Times Newspapers Ltd. successfully challenged a court ruling that threatened to prevent news media reporting details of Barot's sentencing hearing.

Butterfield had ruled that publishing details of the case could prejudice trials of Barot's co-defendants, scheduled to take place in London next year.

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