Parents of Canadian man accused in plotting terror attack in NYC plead for mercy

The parents of  Abdulrahman El Bahnasawy are waiting for the verdict to be pronounced by the federal court on Apr 9.

Interacting with CBC News, Bahnasawy's parents Khdiga Metwally and Osama El Bahnasawy said they understand the gravity of their son's crime.

The parents have also said their son was mentally ill during his teenage so Bahnasawy doesn't deserve to spend the rest of his life in prison.

"We were struggling for this sick boy, and he [was] struggling for himself," says Metwally, her voice shaking. "Other people try to manipulate him when he was so isolated on the internet, to do violence" parents told CBC News.

Abdulrahman El Bahnasawy was charged after he pleaded for being involved in plotting of a 2016 terror attack, targeting New York.

Last year, the U.S. Attorney's Office had revealed the entire details of the terror attack plan that had an alleged effort to detonate bombs in Times Square and the New York subway system.

Plans were also made to attack some concert venues, reports said.

The sealed information also stated that the accused had bought the bomb-making materials and manged to get a room closer to the city to build explosives.

Apart from Bahnasawy, Talha Haroon and Russell Salic, were also charged over the same allegations.

While Haroon is a 19-year old US citizen living in Pakistan, Salic (37) is from Phillippine.

Both were arrested outside the US. They are likely to be extradited to the US for prosecution.