 The "New York Times" wrote that “[t]he government has acknowledged that neither Mr. Shah, nor the three others accused in the case…were on the verge of any violent act.”

Shah was then held for 31 months in solitary confinement at the Metropolitan Correctional Center (MCC) in New York from 2005 until 2007.Realizing that he could not get a fair trial and would be found guilty by association, Shah pleaded guilty in April 2007 to one count of conspiracy to provide aid to a known foreign terrorist organization, even though no actual terrorist contact ever took place, since the “plot” was created solely by the provocateurs, not Shah.His maximum sentence was fifteen years for that single charge.