The US government is appealing the 22-year prison sentence for Ahmed Ressam, the so-called "millennium bomber" who allegedly planned to blow up Los Angeles International Airport in 2000.

US District Court Judge John Coughenour sentenced Ressam last month in Seattle for conspiracy to conduct a terrorist act and smuggling bomb-making material into the country.

During the sentencing hearing Judge Coughenour severely criticized the Bush administration's "war on terror," decrying military tribunals and violations of the US Constitution by overzealous government officials.

On August 26, US prosecutors appealed Ressam's sentence, claiming that it was too lenient. The government had originally asked for a 35-year sentence.

Ressam provided testimony that was included in the briefing paper given to President Bush on August 6, 2001, before the 911 attacks, entitled "Bin Laden Determined to Strike in the US."

Ressam, a 38-year-old Algerian, was arrested at the US-Canadian border on the Olympic Peninsula with explosives in the trunk of his rented car. His arrest resulted in the cancellation of Seattle's Millennium celebration in 2000. US authorities discovered that Ressam had booked a hotel room just blocks away from the famous Space Needle at Seattle Center. Later, he told law enforcement officials that he was planning to bomb the LA International Airport.

In a statement released by the government, US Attorney John McKay said, "We believe his actions warrant a sentence above 22 years, and that the district judge erred in imposing the sentence."

The appeal was filed in the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Originally, Ressam had provided information on other terrorist suspects, but prosecutors claim he stopped cooperating after several years in solitary confinement.