A Muslim convert considered to be the highest ranking al-Qaida operative captured in Britain faces a sentencing hearing Monday for plotting to bomb US targets, such as the New York Stock Exchange and the International Monetary Fund headquarters in Washington, DC. Dhiren Barot, 34, pleaded guilty last month to conspiring to commit mass murder in terrorist plots on both sides of the Atlantic. The Hindu convert who grew up in Britain faces life in prison - a sentence that would have been prohibited from reporting until The Associated Press, The British Broadcasting Corp., and Times Newspapers Ltd successfully challenged a judge's ruling last week. The judge felt publishing details of the two-day sentencing hearing could prejudice trials of Barot's seven co-defendants.