OSLO (Reuters) - Norwegian prosecutors a judge on Monday to impose an 11-year prison term on the alleged ringleader of a group they say plotted to bomb a Danish newspaper with al Qaeda's help, Norwegian domestic news agency NTB said.
The prosecutors said Mikael Davud, a Norwegian of Chinese Uigur origin, trained with al Qaeda in Pakistan in 2008 and 2009 and stayed in contact with the militant group until he and two accomplices were arrested in July 2010.
In a trial now winding up in Oslo District Court, Davud argued that the training he received was in Iran, that it had nothing to do with al Qaeda, and that his aim was to protest China's repression of Uigurs.
Davud is accused of plotting with co-defendants Shawan Sadek, Saeed Bujak and David Jakobsen to blow up Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten in revenge for its publication of cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed in 2005. All three have pleaded not guilty.
According to the charges the three acquired hydrogen peroxide for use as an explosive and may also have planned to kill a newspaper cartoonist.
Final arguments are expected to last until Wednesday, a court official said, with the judge's verdict following later next month.
(Reporting by Walter Gibbs; Editing by Mark Heinrich)
