Quazi Mohammad Rezwanul Ahsan Nafis, 22, who had pleaded guilty to the government's charge of "attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction" and faced life in prison, told the judge he now rejects radical Islam and apologized to the people of New York and the United States. Prosecutors had said Nafis had claimed on social media sites to have contacts with al-Qaeda.

"I'm ashamed, I'm lost, I tried to do a terrible thing," said Nafis, who was arrested in October 2012 while trying to detonate what he believed to be a 454-kg bomb hidden in a van.

Instead, the van carried inert materials planted by an undercover FBI agent as part of a sting operation. Prosecutors said Nafis attempted to use a mobile phone to detonate the bogus device.