A 39-year-old man was found guilty on Monday for planning to provide support to a fellow Terrorist and planning to have a judge murdered. The man was indicted together with his three brothers by a federal grand jury in September 2015. His brothers have however not Pleaded Guilty. Acting assistant attorney general Boente stated that the accused provided support to a wanted foreign terrorist to support jihad.
Yahya Farooq Mohammad
Yahya Farooq Mohammad, a former engineering student at Ohio State University, was previously an Indian citizen before marrying a U.S citizen in 2008.
He admitted that he planned to travel to Yemen together with his brothers to fund and provide equipment to Anwar Al-Awlaki who was a designated global terrorist in 2010, with the aims of committing violent jihad against the U.S army in Iraq, Afghanistan, and other countries.
Anwar al-Awlaki
Anwar was an American and Yemeni Islamic and Imam lecturer. He was described by Al Arabiya a Saudi news station as the "Bin Laden of the internet." His statements and YouTube videos were regarded as influential according to the New York Times. According to ABC News, he once preached to three 9/11 hijackers. He went into hiding in 2006/7. He was later killed in Yemen on September 30, 2011, in a drone strike.
How Mohammad committed his crimes
Mohammad and two others traveled to Yemen on July 22, 2009, to meet Awlaki and to deliver to him $22,000. They were unable to reach him but managed to send the money to him through courier. Mohammad also admitted hiring an undercover FBI agent who posed as a hitman to kidnap and murder Jack Zouhary who was a U.S district judge handling his case after his arrest.
In his admissions, he also told an inmate in Lucas County Corrections Center in Toledo, Ohio about his plans to hire someone to kidnap the judge as well as have him murdered. He was willing to pay $15,000 for the job. The inmate gave him the number of an undercover FBI agent. Mohammad stated that he would make a downpayment of $1,000 before the murder.
Mohammad later called the secret agent on April 26, 2016, and informed him how he wanted the Judge killed. He told the agent that he wanted the judge killed as soon as possible. Mohammad ensured the downpayment reached the agent through a family member.
If found guilty, he will be sentenced to 27 ½ years in prison. He will be deported to India after completing his sentence according to the terms of the plea agreement.
