From the Pittsburgh Post Gazette
A young Syrian refugee who conspired with people he believed to be ISIS sympathizers to blow up a North Side church will spend 17 years in prison likely followed by deportation, a federal judge ruled Tuesday.
The ISIS sympathizers with whom Mustafa Mousab Alowemer thought he was plotting were actually undercover federal agents who had zeroed in on the then-high school student in early 2019.
The ultimate plan, had it succeeded, would have destroyed the Legacy International Worship Center as well as other nearby homes on the residential Wilson Avenue, federal prosecutors said.
Alowemer, 24, was sentenced after two days of testimony in front of U.S. District Judge Marilyn Horan. The government had asked for the statutory maximum of 20 years in prison.
Public defenders for Alowemer had argued for leniency because of a number of factors — the trauma wrought by the Syrian civil war, his years spent as a refugee in Jordan, his resettlement in Pittsburgh. . . Social media, attorneys said, retriggered the trauma he experienced in Syria and Jordan.
. . . Alowemer pledged his allegiance to ISIS, shared numerous pieces of ISIS propaganda, drew up plans and conspired with an undercover agent and confidential informant to blow up the church and took real steps toward making those plans a reality, authorities said. He bought nails and acetone and batteries, all of which would have gone in to the potential bomb-making. There were plans to detonate a second bomb when first responders arribed.
Alowemer was arrested June 10, 2019 — about two weeks after his graduation from Brashear High School. Federal prosecutors had argued that Alowemer was deliberate in his actions and wanted to retaliate against the U.S. and other governments for perceived wrongs.
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One Response
And when will he be released/exchanged for any kidnapped anti-jihadist? Will nano-sized tracking devices be placed thruout his brain before release so as to detect and transmit his naughty thoughts re mayhem, mutilation, murder?