US man sentenced to 20 years for sending mail explosives

New York, Aug 6: A US man who mailed explosives to several prominent American political figures in 2018 was sentenced here to 20 years in prison.

"I am beyond so very sorry for what I did," Cesar Sayoc said before Judge Jed Rakoff at a federal court in Manhattan on Monday before he was sentenced.

Sayoc, a 57-year-old from the state of Florida, sent 16 pipe bombs to 13 people across the country during the weeks leading up to the mid-term elections last year, causing a nationwide scare.

His targets included former President Barack Obama, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, among other critics of President Donald Trump.

No one was hurt in the incidents as none of the home-made bombs detonated.

Prosecutors had requested that Sayoc be sentenced to life imprisonment, while his lawyers asked for 10 years in their plea for leniency, citing "traumatic" events that have "pushed Cesar Sayoc further and further into the margins of society".

Sayoc was arrested last October in Florida when police seized the van he was living in, which was plastered with stickers with Trump's name and images of the President's critics with crosshairs over their faces.

He pleaded guilty to 65 felony counts earlier this year.