A federal jury in Virginia rejected Ahmed Omar Abu Ali’s claim that Saudi authorities tortured him to extract a false confession.

Abu Ali, 24, a US citizen born to a Jordanian father and raised in Falls Church, Virginia, could get life in prison on charges that include conspiracy to assassinate the President and providing support to al-Qaeda. He will be sentenced in February. “The fight is not over,” Khurrum Wahid, Abu Ali’s attorney, said outside the court.

Abu Ali confessed shortly after his arrest at a university in Medina, Saudi Arabia, in June 2003 that he joined al-Qaeda and discussed various terrorist plots, including a plan to assassinate Mr Bush. But the defence said that he was whipped and tortured by a Saudi security force, the Mubahith. Mr Wahid suggested that an al-Qaeda member arrested by the Saudis falsely identified Abu Ali to protect other cell members.

The prosecution said that Abu Ali was never mistreated and confessed voluntarily.

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