Maher “Mike” Hawash, the Palestinian-born software engineer for Intel who fell into the jihad ideology despite a successful career and Western lifestyle, has been sentenced to seven years in prison: 3 Members of Terrorist Cell Sentenced.

Hawash — a former software engineer — was the first of the group to plead guilty to a lesser charge of conspiring to help Al Qaeda and the Taliban during the war in Afghanistan. In exchange for a lighter sentence, he became the government’s crucial material witness and testified against the others.

“I reiterate my acceptance of full responsibility for this act. I do not blame anyone else,” Hawash said in a statement to U.S. District Judge Robert E. Jones.

“This act was done by me in a highly emotional state and was completely out of my character. When the media began to point at Muslims, I couldn’t believe it … . I did not believe that the Afghan people had anything to do with this.

”I am still proud to be a U.S. citizen, and I regret my actions,“ Hawash said. ”I wish to ask forgiveness from my family, my friends in this community and the people of the United States.“

At the time of his arrest, Hawash was working at Intel Corp. — so well-liked by his colleagues that they began a ”Free Mike Hawash” campaign.