A United States court has sentenced a Pakistani-American to 24 years in prisob for attending an al-Qaeda terrorist training camp in his native country and plotting to carry out attacks in the United States.

Hamid Hayat, 25, a resident of northern California, was jailed after a federal jury found him guilty in April last year of attending the the al-Qaeda camp in Pakistan and providing material support to it.

The jury convicted him of concealing his training from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, knowing that it would ultimately be used to carry out acts of terrorism in the US.

"Hamid Hayat attended a terrorist training camp, returned to the US ready and willing to wage violent jihad when directed to do so regardless of the havoc such acts could wreak on persons and property within the US and then lied about his conduct to the FBI on three separate occasions," said Judge Garland E Burrell.

At the hearing in Sacramento on Monday, the judge said that there was a high probability that Hayat will again commit a crime if he was given a lighter sentence and there was very little likelihood of him being rehabilitated.

The defense had sought 15 years while the government prosecutor had said that Hayat deserved 35 years behind bars.

Hamid's father Umer Hayat told mediapersons after the sentencing, "We were expecting justice. We did not get justice. My son is innocent."

Hayat's attorneys plan to appeal his conviction and sentence by asserting ineffective assistance of counsel. Hayat's father was also charged in the case, but the jury was deadlocked and he has since pleaded guilty to an unrelated charge.

It has come to light that in the last few days the government had offered Hamid a plea bargain of 15 years in prison in exchange of providing information about terrorist activities.

Assistant Attorney for National Security Kenneth L Wainstein said, "The sentence handed down to Hamid Hayat demonstrates the very real consequences for those who train overseas for jihad against the US."