NEW YORK – A New York City man, after reciting verses from the Quran rather than expressing remorse, was sentenced Friday to life in prison in a foiled 2009 plot that authorities labeled one of the closest calls since the 9/11 attacks.

Adis Medunjanin, a 28-year-old U.S. citizen from Bosnia, had faced a mandatory life term following his conviction last year of conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction and several other terrorism charges stemming from the al-Qaida-sanctioned scheme hatched with two former high school classmates.

Appearing in federal court in Brooklyn, Medunjanin read from the Quran in Arabic for several minutes before U.S. District Judge John Gleeson interrupted and asked him if he intended to say anything in English.