Pennsylvania woman charged with recruiting violent jihadist fighters

[White Sail]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,588627,00.html

Pennsylvania Woman Charged With Recruiting Violent Jihadist Fighters
Tuesday, March 09, 2010

A Pennsylvania woman known to authorities as "JihadJane" has been charged in federal court with conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists, conspiracy to kill in a foreign country, making false statements to a government official and attempted identity theft.

The indictment, unsealed Monday, charges that Colleen R. LaRose and five unindicted co-conspirators recruited men on the Internet to wage violent jihad in South Asia and Europe, and recruited women on the Internet who had passports and the ability to travel to and around Europe in support of violent jihad.

The accused co-conspirators are located in South Asia, Eastern Europe, Western Europe and the United States.

In June of 2008, LaRose posted a comment on YouTube under the username "JihadJane," stating that she is "desperate to do something somehow to help" the suffering Muslim people, according to the indictment.

She was also know to authorities as "Fatima LaRose." The indictment describes LaRose as in her 40s.

Court documents show LaRose was first arrested by federal authorities on Oct. 16, 2009, for allegedly trying to "transfer" a stolen passport.

The indictment charges that the American-born LaRose and her unindicted co-conspirators used the Internet to establish relationships with one another and to communicate regarding their plans, which included martyring themselves, soliciting funds for terrorists, soliciting passports and avoiding travel restrictions (through the collection of passports and through marriage) in order to wage violent jihad, according to a government release.

LaRose is also accused of stealing another individual's U.S. passport and transferring or attempting to transfer it in an effort to facilitate an act of international terrorism.

"Today's indictment, which alleges that a woman from suburban America agreed to carry out murder overseas and to provide material support to terrorists, underscores the evolving nature of the threat we face," said David Kris, Assistant Attorney General for the National Security Division.

LaRose, who lives in Montgomery County, Pa., received a direct order to kill a citizen and resident of Sweden, and to do so in a way that would frighten "the whole Kufar [non-believer] world," according to the indictment.

It states that LaRose agreed to carry out her murder assignment, and that she and her co-conspirators discussed that her appearance and American citizenship would help her blend in while carrying out her plans.

According to the indictment, LaRose traveled to Europe and tracked her intended target online in an effort to complete her task.

"This case shows the use terrorists can and do make of the Internet," said U.S. Attorney Michael L. Levy. "Colleen LaRose and five other individuals scattered across the globe are alleged to have used the Internet to form a conspiracy to provide material support to terrorism, culminating in a direct order to LaRose to commit murder overseas."

LaRose is one of the first American females ever to be charged with a terrorism offense in the U.S.

The only other one a Department of Justice official could recall was Lynne Stewart, a New York attorney and American citizen, who was convicted of terrorism violations in 2005 in the Southern District of New York for passing prison messages from the "Blind Sheikh" to his followers on the outside urging violent attacks.

And last month, Aafia Siddiqui, a Pakistani woman who lived in Boston for some time but was not a U.S. citizen, was convicted in the Southern District of New York in connection with her attempt to kill U.S. military and law enforcement personnel in Afghanistan.

 

[The Bobster]

http://cbs3.com/topstories/swedish.artist.lars.2.1550865.html

Swedish Artist: Cartoon Murder Plot 'Low-Tech'

STOCKHOLM (AP) ― A Swedish artist who angered Muslims by drawing the Prophet Muhammad with the body of a dog said Wednesday he has no regrets and believes the suspects in an alleged plot to kill him were not professionals.

Lars Vilks, who has faced numerous death threats over the controversial cartoon, said he has built his own defense system, including a "homemade" safe room and a barbed-wire sculpture that could electrocute potential intruders.

He said he also has an ax "to chop down" anyone trying to climb through the windows of his home in southern Sweden.

"If something happens, I know exactly what to do," Vilks told The Associated Press in an interview in Stockholm.

The 63-year-old artist said the suspects in an alleged plot to kill him -- seven people arrested in Ireland and a Philadelphia woman held in the U.S. -- were "not the real hard professionals. I think they are rather low-tech."

He said he had learned from American media reports that the woman held in the U.S., Colleen R. LaRose, who had called herself JihadJane in a YouTube video, had visited the area where he lives, but he didn't know whether that was correct. "I'm glad she didn't kill me," Vilks said.

An eccentric artist with disheveled hair and thick-lensed glasses, Vilks referred to himself as "the artist" and described his life after his Muhammad drawing was first published by a Swedish newspaper in 2007 as if it were a movie plot.

"It's a good story. It's about the bad guys and a good guy, and they try to kill him," he said.

"They have this woman also which I think is a good part of the plot with this fantastic name, 'JihadJane,' who is actually doing some scouting there in the surroundings," Vilks added. "As I can see it, you have something of a film there. But as I said, I believe they're a bit low-tech."

LaRose had discussions of her alleged plans with at least one of the suspects apprehended in Ireland, according to a U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity because the official wasn't authorized to discuss details of the investigation.

Irish authorities said Wednesday those arrested there were two Algerians, two Libyans, a Palestinian, a Croatian and an American whore married to one of the Algerian suspects. They were not identified by name.

 

[White Sail]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20100310/ts_csm/286499

'Jihad Jane': How does Al Qaeda recruit U.S.-born women?
By Peter Grier – Wed Mar 10, 5:58 pm ET

Washington – The case of Colleen R. LaRose – also known as “Jihad Jane” and “Fatima Rose” – raises troubling questions about the ability of Al Qaeda to attract US-born women to terrorism.

Blond and green-eyed, Ms. LaRose looks more like a former cheerleader than the Western conception of an Islamist extremist. According to the FBI, she told co-conspirators in an e-mail that her appearance would allow her to blend in “with many people,” so that she could achieve “what is in my heart.”

Her US passport would also allow her to travel easily in and out of the country.

US counterterrorism officials long have been concerned about the possibility of Islamic radicalization of US natives. But generally speaking, they have focused on potential terrorist recruits that are males.

“The issue of US converts [to radical Islam] is not new,” says Juan Carlos Zarate, senior adviser in the Transnational Threats Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “What is new is that in this case, the convert may be a middle-aged female.”

An indictment filed in federal court on March 4 and unsealed Tuesday charges LaRose and five unindicted co-conspirators with recruiting people on the Internet to wage violent jihad in South Asia and Europe.

The indictment further charges that LaRose received a direct order to kill a Swedish resident. She traveled to Sweden and tracked the target with the intent of carrying out the murder, according to the FBI.

Law-enforcement authorities identified the target as cartoonist Lars Vilks, who had drawn a cartoon of the prophet Muhammad with the body of a dog.

In an e-mail message to a co-conspirator, LaRose wrote that she would pursue her mission “till I achieve it or die trying,” according to the indictment.

Seven people were arrested in Ireland on Tuesday in connection with the plot, according to US law enforcement. Irish police said that those arrested were two Algerians, two Libyans, a Palestinian, a Croatian, and an American woman married to one of the Algerian suspects.

LaRose has ties to Texas but most recently has been living in Pennsburg, Pa., outside of Philadelphia. The indictment describes her as someone who became gradually radicalized as she trolled the Internet and communicated with Islamist sources around the world.

In June, 2008, LaRose posted a comment on YouTube under the moniker “JihadJane” saying that she was “desperate to do something somehow to help” suffering Muslims, according to the indictment.

Over the following year, her electronic communications revealed that she had agreed to marry a co-conspirator in order to allow him entry into Europe. By August 2009, she was in Sweden preparing to attack Vilks.

She was arrested on Oct. 16, 2009, in Philadelphia.

In recent years, only two other women have been charged in the US with terror violations. They are lawyer Lynne Stewart, convicted of helping imprisoned blind Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman communicate with his followers, and Aafia Siddiqui, a Pakistani scientist found guilty of shooting at US personnel in Afghanistan while yelling, “Death to Americans!”

Neither of these involved the communications with fellow Islamists and plotting with which LaRose is charged.

In the indictment, LaRose was not described as having ties to an official terrorist group, and it is unclear exactly how she was radicalized.

But US counterterrorism efforts have made it more difficult for Islamist extremists themselves to gain entry into the US. Thus the recruitment of US natives “is a natural response on the part of Al Qaeda,” says William Martel, an associate professor of international security studies at Tufts University.

In a way, such efforts might present an opportunity to the US, says Martel, as they could make it easier to penetrate the secrecy of terrorist cells with American double agents who are pretending to be radicalized

 

[Tricknologist]

Race mixer 2nd woman arrested in plot

Now we have another suspect. Note the name and the family pic.

Note the little mudlet in the photo.

Leadville, Colorado (CNN) -- A 31-year-old Colorado mother is being detained in Ireland after being arrested as part of an investigation into a conspiracy to commit murder, the Wall Street Journal reported Saturday, citing unnamed sources familiar with the case.

Jamie Paulin-Ramirez of Leadville is being detained in connection with the investigation into an alleged plot to kill a Swedish cartoonist who poked fun at the Prophet Mohammad, the newspaper reported. CNN was not immediately able to verify the report.

Paulin-Ramirez would be the second American woman to be linked to the alleged murder plot in Sweden.

Colleen LaRose, a Pennsylvania woman indicted March 4 for allegedly conspiring to support terrorists and kill a person in a foreign country, would be the other.

Irish police confirmed to CNN on Saturday that seven people were arrested last week, though they would not release the identities or the reasons for the arrests. Three of the suspects -- a married couple from Algeria and a Libyan woman -- have been released, police said. One woman, whose nationality was not disclosed, remains in custody, police said.

The main contact for LaRose is believed to be an Algerian man among the seven suspects, who has a relationship with Paulin-Ramirez, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing a person close to matter. LaRose spent roughly two weeks in Ireland last fall, the source said, according to the newspaper.

Paulin-Ramirez's stepfather and mother, George and Christine Mott, told CNN that they heard of their daughter's arrest first from the Wall Street Journal, and have no official confirmation. They said she converted to Islam last spring and disappeared on September 11, 2009. Her decision to convert, George Mott said, came as a surprise to the family because "she always hated that I was Muslim" and that they had a rocky relationship over his faith.

Aside from her stepfather, she was introduced to Islam by African Muslims who came into the clinic where she worked as a medical assistant, he said. Her parents say she was studying to be a nurse practitioner.

She increasingly spent time surfing popular Muslim Web sites, and started listening to Al Jazeera, a Qatar-based international news network, and perusing Islamist chatrooms, her parents said.

Their daughter eventually began wearing items of hijab, the Islamic dress code, covering her head in veils that only revealed her eyes, the Motts said.

They said in one chatroom, she met a Pakistani man who wanted her to help him come to the United States. They urged her to quit visiting such chatrooms, but she refused, her parents said.

When Paulin-Ramirez went missing, her parents say they contacted federal authorities with concerns that she had become radicalized and could be dangerous.

Leadville police Sgt. Saige Thomas told CNN Saturday that the FBI in Denver was in touch with the city's police chief in mid-September after George Mott contacted the federal agency.

Leadville police closed the case after an investigation didn't indicate a crime had been committed, she said, adding that police didn't hear from the FBI again.

Her parents say that after Paulin-Ramirez went missing, she called them and has been sporadically in touch with her family. They say she took her 6-year-old son, whom they last spoke to while the pair was in Ireland.

The child's father has been deported to Mexico, the Motts said.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/03/13/ireland.colorado.woman.arrest/index.html?hpt=T1

 

[The Bobster]

http://cbs3.com/topstories/mom.jamie.ramirez.2.1560049.html

Mom: Whore Daughter Held In Terror Plot 'Lost Her Mind'

LEADVILLE, Colo. (AP) ― Before her daughter disappeared last fall, Christine Mott recalls that the 31-year-old who had been held in connection with an alleged assassination plot announced she had converted to Islam and told her family they'd go to hell if they didn't follow in her steps.

Jamie Paulin-Ramirez also began talking about Jihad with her Muslim stepfather and spent most of her time online as she withdrew from her family, Mott said.

"We were enemies," Christine Mott said. "We couldn't even speak to each other."

Last year, on Sept. 11, Paulin-Ramirez left Leadville, Colo., an old silver mining town west of Denver that was Colorado's second-largest city during its heyday. She took her 6-year-old wetback spawn with her, her mother said.

A U.S. official, who was not authorized to discuss the investigation and spoke on condition of anonymity, said Saturday that Paulin-Ramirez had been detained in Ireland in connection with an alleged plot to kill a Swedish cartoonist who had offended many Muslims.

Irish police said later Saturday that they had released without charge an American woman, who they didn't identify, and three others arrested in Ireland over an alleged plot to assassinate the cartoonist, Lars Vilks.

Paulin-Ramirez's arrest is one of four developments in the past week that have involved Americans in alleged terror plots abroad.

Al-Qaida spokesman Adam Gadahn appeared in a video, Sharif Mobley of New Jersey tried to escape his detainment in Yemen, and Colleen LaRose, who allegedly went by the name "Jihad Jane" to recruit others online to kill Vilks, was named in a federal terror indictment.

Smoking as she sat on her living room couch in Leadville, Christine Mott said she hadn't eaten in days. The 59-year-old described her daughter as a troubled single mother who had the "mentality of an abused woman" and who, in trying to escape her loneliness, may have spiraled into the depths of Islamic extremism.

Mott told The Associated Press that she learned of her daughter's arrest in the case from the FBI and other federal law enforcement agencies.

Denver FBI officials said Saturday they couldn't confirm that the FBI had contacted Mott about the case.

Paulin-Ramirez told her family after she left in September that she went to Ireland with her 6-year-old son and married an Algerian whom she met online, Mott said.

Before abruptly leaving Colorado, Paulin-Ramirez had been a straight-A nursing student and had worked at a clinic in Edwards, about 40 miles west of Leadville, her mother said. She moved to Leadville from Denver six years ago. Phone calls to the clinic in Edwards went unanswered Saturday.

Mott said her daughter told her family during Easter last year that she converted to Islam, and renamed her son. Mott said her daughter was teaching him to hate Christians as she grew more distant from her family.

When she discussed jihad with her stepfather, George Mott, who has been a Muslim for more than 40 years, she told him "she'd strap a bomb for the cause," Christine Mott said.

She said she believes her daughter was lonely and "got sucked in" and brainwashed by other people.

"To go blow somebody up?" said Paulin-Ramirez's mother, who is not Muslim. "That's never been Islam."

Growing up, Paulin-Ramirez was "the kid in the class everyone picked on and made fun of," Mott said. She was married three times before she left for Ireland, and her first husband used to beat her, she said.

Her second husband, the 6-year-old's father, was an illegal immigrant from Mexico and was deported years ago, Mott said.

Paulin-Ramirez liked going on fishing and camping trips but grew distant before her departure, Mott said. She spent much of her time on the computer, she said.

"I'd yell at her, 'Get off the damn computer, do something with your son," Mott said.

The FBI seized the desktop computer in late September but didn't tell the family what they found, George Mott said.

George Mott said the family had not been in touch with Paulin-Ramirez since news of her release and did not know where she might be or if her son was with her.

"That baby is my heart, he is my reason to breathe," Christine Mott said crying, later recalling her weekly phone conversations with her grandson. Her last phone call with him was Monday.

"When we talk," she recalled, "We give each other hugs and kisses on the phone," she said, putting her arms across her chest.

During a recent phone call, Christine Mott said, her grandson told her that "all Christians will burn in hellfire."

But during another phone call, her grandson was excited to hear about a new kitten at the Motts' home in Leadville.

"When I told him about that he said name the kitten my name, Christian," Christine Mott said. "He knows who he is. I don't care how many times they call him this Muslim name, he knows his name is Christian."

Among the people Paulin-Ramirez had also communicated with online was a man from Pakistan who told her he wanted to come to the U.S. to learn how to fly, the Motts said.

"She lost her mind," Christine Mott said. "I told her, 'That should be a red flag right there.'"

Christine Mott said Ramirez began calling her 6-year-old son "Walid," or "Wahid."

Paulin-Ramirez grew up in Blue Springs, Mo., and few people in Leadville appeared to know her. The mayor of Leadville, Bud Elliott, said Saturday that he knew the Motts casually but wasn't well acquainted with Pailin-Ramirez.

"She's a lady that appears to have had a very sad and troubled life," Elliott said.

 

[Tricknologist]

You know, Bobster, this woman sounds a lot like Obongo's mammy. A White woman that hates her race so much she screws anything non-White.

 

[White Sail]

http://liveshots.blogs.foxnews.com/2010/04/02/jihad-jamie-to-be-arrested/?test=latestnews

“Jihad Jamieâ┚¬ Arrested After U.S. Arrival
April 2, 2010 - 3:41 PM | by: Mike Levine

Federal authorities have arrested a Colorado nursing student with alleged dreams of joining Al Qaeda as she arrived on U.S. soil Friday afternoon, FOX News has learned.

31-year-old Jamie Paulin-Ramirez was one of several people detained in Ireland last month, accused of joining a group of radical Islamists there planning to assassinate a Swedish cartoonist.

Federal prosecutors in Pennsylvania have now now charged her with conspiracy to provide material support to a terrorist group.

Her mother told Fox News three weeks ago that Paulin-Ramirez was an "insecure" person who "had no idea what she was getting herself into."

Last month, Irish authorities arrested Paulin-Ramirez and six others in a series of raids for allegedly plotting with to claim a $100,000 Al Qaeda bounty by killing the Swedish cartoonist who drew the prophet Mohammed as a dog.

Irish authorities subsequently released her.

At the same time, a Pennsylvania woman was charged in the United States with conspiring to commit murder in the name of a Muslim holy war, or jihad.

46-year-old Colleen LaRose, who dubbed herself "Jihad Jane," allegedly shared her radical views online and tried to recruit others through the Internet.

According to her sister, LaRose suffered from depression and attempted suicide in 2005 after the death of her father.

As for Paulin-Ramirez, her mother described her as someone who was "lonely and wanted to get someone to love her."

"Jamie is not an evil person," Christine Mott said. "She was sucked into something that she had no idea what she was getting herself into."

Paulin-Ramirez fled the United States with her six-year-old son, and Mott blamed her daughter's Algerian husband, whom she said had radical views, for the alleged involvement in the terrorist plot.

One person with knowledge of the case called Paulin-Ramirez "pretty much the most tangential" of the group accused of plotting to kill the cartoonist.

On Friday, her U.S.-bound plane was supposed to land at an airport on the East Coast around 3pm ET. Authorities planned to arrest her upon arrival.

It's unclear if Paulin-Ramirez, dubbed "Jihad Jamie" by some, was expecting her arrest, which would suggest a deal with U.S. authorities had been reached.

She was expected to have her initial appearance late Friday in federal court in Philadelphia.

 

[The Bobster]

http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local-beat/Jihad-Jane-Terror-Plea-114823104.html

Terror Suspect "Jihad Jane" to Plead Guilty: Source
Updated 4:43 PM EST, Fri, Jan 28, 2011

Terror suspect, Colleen LaRose, is expected to plead guilty when she goes to court Tuesday, a court source said.

The woman who called herself "Jihad Jane" and "Fatima LaRose" was originally set to go to trial May 3 but her trial was delayed indefinitely until now. She was accused of plotting to kill a Swedish cartoonist who upset many Muslims with his drawing depicting the prophet Mohammad's head on a dog's body.

LaRose will change her plea in federal court next week.

It wasn't clear if LaRose would plea to all the charges against her or to lesser charges, a court source said.

Sources told the Philadelphia Inquirer last year that LaRose confessed to the murder plot after the FBI arrested her in the fall of 2009 in the Philadelphia International Airport when she returned from an overseas trip. Her attorney, Mark Wilson, wouldn't comment on the report after exiting court Thursday.

LaRose lived in the quiet community of Pennsburg, Montgomery County and that's where she did most of her work -- recruiting violent co-conspirators online, according to the federal indictment.

The 46-year-old woman spent most of her life in Texas. She dropped out of high school. She was married twice -- at 16 and 24. Both marriages ended in divorce and then she followed a boyfriend, Kurt Gorman, to Pennsylvania in 2004.

Gorman said he never considered LaRose religious, but by 2008 she declared herself "desperate'' to help suffering Muslims in a YouTube video.

"In my view, she sort of slipped sideways into Islam. ... There may have been some seduction into it, by one or more people,'' said Temple University psychologist Frank Farley.

In August 2009, LaRose stole Gorman's passport and fled to Europe without telling him, making good on her online pledge to try to kill in the name of Allah, according to the indictment.

She had also agreed to marry one of her overseas contacts, a man from South Asia who said he could deal bombs and explosives, according to e-mails recovered by authorities.

He also told her in a March 2009 e-mail to go to Sweden to find the artist, Lars Vilks.

"I will make this my goal till I achieve it or die trying,'' she wrote back, adding that her blonde American looks would help her blend in.

Although LaRose wrote the Swedish embassy in March 2009 to ask how to obtain residency, and joined Vilks' online artists group in September 2009, there is no evidence from court documents that she ever made it to Sweden.

 

[Tricknologist]

Gorman said he never considered LaRose religious, but by 2008 she declared herself "desperate'' to help suffering Muslims in a YouTube video.

Another dangerous libtard.

"I will make this my goal till I achieve it or die trying,'' she wrote back, adding that her blonde American looks would help her blend in.

 

[The Bobster]

http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2011/10/20/teen-charged-in-jihad-jane-terror-plot/

Teen Charged In ‘Jihad Jane’ Terror Plot
October 20, 2011 1:43 PM

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A Maryland teenager has been indicted on federal terrorism charges that accuse him of helping the American terror suspect dubbed “Jihad Jane” with her plot to kill a Swedish artist.

Mohammad Hassan Khalid, a legal immigrant from Pakistan who turned 18 this month, allegedly helped recruit women with passports to further the plot of Colleen LaRose of Pennsylvania and others.

The indictment released Thursday also names Ali Charaf Damache, 46, an Algerian who lived in Ireland and married another suspect in the case, Jamie Paulin-Ramirez of Colorado. Paulin-Ramirez pleaded guilty to providing material support to terrorists, the same charge now facing Khalid.

Khalid had been the rare juvenile in federal custody since his July 6 arrest at his family’s Ellicott City home. He was an honors student at his public high school who had been offered a full scholarship to Johns Hopkins University this fall. He has been held in Berks County.

“This case demonstrates that we must remain vigilant within our communities to make sure that we bring to justice those terrorists, of any age or background, who seek to do great harm to our citizens,” U.S. Attorney Zane Memeger said in a statement.

The teen’s lawyer, Jeffrey M. Lindy, did not immediately return a call for comment.

Khalid met LaRose in an online chat room in 2009, when he was 15, according to the indictment and a person close to his family.

He allegedly solicited money for her online and circulated a questionnaire to at least one woman asking about “her beliefs and intentions with regard to jihad,” and if she had a European passport, according to the indictments.

In soliciting funds, he pledged to forward money to LaRose, for her to pass on to the jihadists, authorities say.

“I know the sister and by Allah, all money will be transferred to her. The sister will then transfer the money to the brother via a method that I will not disclose,” he wrote in July 2009, according to the LaRose indictment.

LaRose, 48, of Pennsburg, had dubbed herself Jihad Jane in a YouTube video that had caught the attention of the FBI by 2009.

She faces a possible life term after pleading guilty to four federal charges, including conspiracy to support terrorists and lying to the FBI. She has not yet been sentenced.

 

[The Bobster]

http://www.myfoxphilly.com/dpps/new...terror-case-in-pa-dpgapx-20120504-fc_19681588

Md. Teenager Pleads Guilty in Terror Case in Pa.
Updated: Friday, 04 May 2012, 11:45 AM EDT
Published : Friday, 04 May 2012, 11:45 AM EDT

MARYCLAIRE DALE, Asspociated Press

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - A Maryland teen pleaded guilty Friday to U.S. terror charges for offering assistance to an American woman who dubbed herself "Jihad Jane" and supported an Irish terror cell bent on waging a Muslim holy war in Europe.

Mohammad Hassan Khalid, now 18, faces a 15-year prison sentence for a single count of conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists for his offer to raise money and recruit terrorists for jihad.

Khalid, then a 17-year-old high school student from Ellicott City, Md., was arrested last July after he corresponded with a woman who later admitted plotting to kill a Swedish artist who had offended Muslims. He was just 15 when he began online chats with Colleen LaRose, the Pennsylvania woman calling herself Jihad Jane who now faces life in prison.

Khalid was held in FBI custody as a juvenile before being indicted after turning 18. Khalid and his family are legal immigrants from Pakistan and he could be deported following completion of his prison term. A sentencing date wasn't immediately set.

Khalid had been offered a full scholarship to prestigious Johns Hopkins University while a student at Mount Hebron High School, where his teachers recalled his strong work ethic. But in a secret life online, he pledged to forward money to LaRose for her to pass on to the jihadists, or holy warriors, and hid a passport she sent him, according to authorities.

LaRose, of Pennsburg, Pa., was being watched by the FBI after posting online videos in which she vowed to kill or die for the jihadist cause.

LaRose was arrested in November 2009 after returning to the United States from Ireland, where authorities said she traveled after agreeing to marry an online contact from South Asia and become a martyr. LaRose intended to murder Swedish artist Lars Vilks for depicting the prophet Muhammad with the body of a dog, authorities said.

Investigators said there's no evidence LaRose ever made it to Sweden.

Khalid was indicted along with Ali Charaf Damache, an Irish citizen from Algeria who married another American woman, Jamie Paulin-Ramirez, of Colorado, after she moved to Waterford, Ireland, to meet him.

Neither women has been sentenced.

The American women were sought for their Western looks and passports, authorities have said. Damache, known as Black Flag, was charged in the Khalid indictment but has not been extradited.

 

[The Bobster]

http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2012/10/15/jihad-jane-faces-life-in-december-over-terror-plot/

‘Jihad Jane’ Faces Life In December Over Terror Plot
October 15, 2012 4:35 PM

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Two American women and a Maryland teen convicted of helping terrorists plan a Muslim holy war are set to be sentenced by year’s end.

Colleen LaRose of Pennsburg, Pa., faces a life sentence for plotting to kill Swedish artist Lars Vilks over a cartoon that offended Muslims.

The 48-year-old LaRose, who called herself “Jihad Jane” in a YouTube video, will be sentenced Dec. 19. She’s been in custody since she returned from Ireland to surrender to the FBI in 2009.

Jamie Paulin-Ramirez of Colorado and 18-year-old Mohammad Hassan Khalid of Ellicott City, Md., will be sentenced Nov. 30.

They face up to 15 years each for providing material aid to the Irish-based terror cell.

Authorities say Paulin-Ramirez married a terror suspect in Ireland, and Khalid agreed to deliver a passport.

 

[The Bobster]

http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/20...known-as-jihad-jane-gets-10-year-prison-term/

Montco Woman Known as ‘Jihad Jane’ Gets 10-Year Prison Term
January 6, 2014 12:02 PM
By Tony Hanson

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — A Montgomery County, Pa. woman who called herself “Jihad Jane” and helped suspected terrorists overseas was sentenced today in federal court in Philadelphia to ten years in prison.

Colleen LaRose, 50, of Pennsburg, Pa., admitted that she plotted to kill a Swedish artist over a cartoon that offended Muslims. Prosecutors were seeking a longer sentence despite her extensive cooperation with authorities following her arrest.

LaRose, who called herself “Jihad Jane” in videos posted on YouTube, returned from Ireland in 2009 to surrender to the FBI. She had traveled to Europe to take part in the plot to murder the cartoonist, but that plot was never carried out.

Today, she told the judge she was sorry for her actions and had been “entranced” by Muslim extremists.

Jamie Paulin-Ramirez, of Colorado, and Mohammad Hassan Khalid, a Maryland teenager are also being sentenced this week.

Khalid, arrested before he turned 18, is the rare juvenile held in federal custody.

 

[The Bobster]

http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/20...of-montcos-jihad-jane-gets-8-years-in-prison/

Terrorism Colleague of Montco’s ‘Jihad Jane’ Gets 8 Years in Prison
January 8, 2014 3:14 PM
By Paul Kurtz

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — A Colorado woman who was a terrorist cell colleague of “Jihad Jane” was sentenced today to eight years in prison.

Dressed in green prison clothes and wearing a black headscarf, Jamie Paulin Ramirez wept in US District Court in Philadelphia as she told Judge Patrice Tucker that she’d made a terrible mistake and regretted every moment of her time spent in Ireland.

Ramirez, 35, had traveled to Europe in 2009 with her six-year-old son to support her husband, Ali Charaf Damache, an Algerian jihadist-in-training.

In begging for leniency, Ramirez said that Damache had physically abused the boy while indoctrinating him to the ways of killing non-Muslims.

But prosecutors countered with a home video that Ramirez took of the boy, dressed in mujahedeen garb and brandishing toy weapons, as she asked what to do to non-believers.

“Shoot and poke,” he responded.

Ramirez initially faced 15 years behind bars, but the feds decided to give Ramirez a break for helping them investigate Damache and others, including Colleen LaRose, better known as “Jihad Jane.”

LaRose, of Pennsburg, Pa., was given a ten-year prison sentence on Monday. Damache is still in prison back in Ireland, fighting extradition to the US.

 

[The Bobster]

http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/Jihad-Jane-Teen-Sentencing-255613421.html

Ex-Honors Student Faces Sentencing in 'Jihad Jane' Plot
Thursday, Apr 17, 2014 | Updated 6:18 AM EDT

A Maryland teen convicted with two women in a Jihadist terror plot is set to be sentenced in Philadelphia.

Mohammad Hassan Khalid of Ellicott City, Md., is linked to the case of 50-year-old Colleen “Jihad Jane” LaRose, who was sentenced in January to 10 years in prison.

The FBI says Khalid met LaRose and other extremists online when he was a 15-year-old honors student, and agreed to help them.

He is the rare juvenile detained on federal terrorism charges before turning 18.

In court documents, U.S. prosecutors say the 20-year-old native of Pakistan has assisted with global terrorism investigations since his 2011 arrest.

They are seeking a lengthy sentence but less than the 15-year maximum.

 

[The Bobster]

http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/Jihad-Jane-Plot-Ireland-Terror-Suspect-304763431.html

Terror Suspect Who Allegedly Recruited 'Jihad Jane' Wanted in US, Walks Free
By Shawn Pogatchnik
Updated at 8:17 PM EDT on Friday, May 22, 2015

An Algerian-born terror suspect wanted in the United States walked free from a Dublin court Thursday after five years behind bars and a two-year legal battle against extradition.

U.S. authorities had sought to convict Ali Charaf Damache, 50, on two counts of conspiring to develop a European terror cell and to aid Pakistan-based terrorists. He had been held without bail in Ireland since March 2010 but walked free from Dublin High Court after Justice Aileen Donnelly delivered a 333-page judgment that criticized Irish prosecutors and potentially cruel U.S. prison conditions.

Donnelly cited what she called "substantial grounds for believing that Mr. Damache will be at real risk of being subjected to inhuman and degrading treatment if extradited to the USA."

She also ruled that Irish state prosecutors abdicated their responsibilities in 2011 when they ruled out the possibility of trying Damache for additional terror charges in Ireland, where he actually lived, rather than the United States, which he had never visited. Prosecutors took that decision, in part, to ease Damache's extradition — but instead it inspired two successful appeals by Damache's legal team challenging the fairness of his case's handling.

Damache, who has lived in Ireland for 15 years and has Irish citizenship, said in a statement issued by his legal team: "I am very happy with today's ruling, I always had faith in the Irish legal system ... and after more than five years in jail I am looking forward to moving on with my life here."

He had been jailed in Ireland since U.S. investigators tied him to a failed 2009 conspiracy to kill Swedish artist Lars Vilks, who had drawn jihadis' ire with sketches depicting the prophet Muhammad as a dog.

According to FBI affidavits and other evidence presented in U.S. and Irish courts, Damache was the ringleader who recruited white American women to his cause using online chat rooms. He allegedly wanted to build a European terror cell with Western female members who, because of their appearance and background, could avoid being added to terrorist watch lists. Damache also was accused of conspiring to supply a U.S. passport stolen in Ireland for use by an al-Qaida member in Pakistan, possibly delivered by one of his alleged American followers.

One of his alleged recruits, Colleen "Jihad Jane" LaRose, was arrested by the FBI in Philadelphia soon after she returned from Ireland in September 2009. LaRose, 51, is serving a 10-year sentence for conspiracy to murder and aiding terrorists.

Damache married another alleged online recruit, Jamie Paulin-Ramirez, on the first day she arrived in Ireland from her hometown of Leadville, Colorado, accompanied by her 6-year-old son. Paulin-Ramirez, 35, is serving an 8-year sentence after being arrested in March 2010 in Ireland alongside Damache, agreeing to return to the United States, and pleading guilty in 2014 to providing material support to terrorists.

Damache served a 3-year sentence in Ireland after his 2010 arrest, because he belatedly pleaded guilty to an unrelated charge of making a telephoned death threat to a Michigan-based Muslim critic of jihadis. Irish police bearing a U.S. extradition warrant arrested him outside an Irish courthouse in February 2013 minutes after Damache had pleaded guilty to that charge and been freed because he had already spent three years behind bars fighting the charge and awaiting a verdict.

U.S. and Irish authorities at the time said they expected swift extradition, but Damache successfully appealed to Ireland's Supreme Court in hopes of having any further criminal charges handled in Ireland, rather than the United States, where prison terms for terror offenses are much more severe.

The High Court judge, Donnelly, agreed with the Supreme Court's 2014 criticisms of the Irish prosecutors' 2011 decision to relent on any further Irish charges.

And Donnelly found persuasive the defense's contention that Damache, if extradited, could be housed in the ADX super-maximum-security prison near Florence, Colorado, featuring a regime of solitary confinement for prisoners deemed exceptionally dangerous. She said conditions in that prison, nicknamed the "Alcatraz of the Rockies," did not meet Irish constitutional standards for the treatment of imprisoned Irish citizens.

 

[The Bobster]

http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news...had-Jane-is-Arrested-in-Spain--361596201.html

Suspected Recruiter of 'Jihad Jane' is Arrested in Spain
Published 4 hours ago

FILE- This is a Monday, March, 15, 2010 file photo of Ali Charaf Damache as he arrives at the courthouse in Waterford Ireland. Damache is wanted by American authorities over the abortive "Jihad Jane" plot to assassinate a Swedish artist was arrested while leaving an Irish courthouse Wednesday and could face U.S. extradition demands within hours.


An Algerian-Irish man accused of recruiting an American woman who called herself "Jihad Jane" and plotted to kill a Swedish artist has been arrested in Spain, officials said Friday.

Ali Charaf Damache was arrested Thursday in Barcelona based on a U.S. warrant issued stating he was a suspected recruiter for an Islamic extremist group, according to the Interior Department for the northeastern region of Catalonia. Damache was taken to the National Court in Madrid on Friday and ordered jailed while the request for his extradition is reviewed.

Damache is wanted by U.S. authorities in connection with emails sent in the United States between 2009 and 2010 that indicated he was recruiting for al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb and was trying to establish cells, the department said.

The U.S. Justice Department says Damache, while living in Ireland, recruited Colleen LaRose in 2009 and another U.S. woman via jihadist websites. Damache married the other woman, Jamie Paulin-Ramirez, in a Muslim ceremony on the day she arrived in Ireland from Colorado.

Larose used the online nickname "Jihad Jane" and was convicted of agreeing to kill Swedish artist Lars Vilks, whose drawings depicting the prophet Muhammad as a dog offended Muslims. She was sentenced last year to 10 years in prison.

LaRose became obsessed with the cause after meeting a Muslim man :barfx4: on vacation in Amsterdam after a fight with her boyfriend, her lawyer said. She pursued it online when she returned to her rural Pennsylvania home. With her blond hair, blue eyes and U.S. passport, she forever changed the face of terror in the United States, prosecutors said.

Jamie Paulin-Ramirez was sentenced last year in the U.S. to eight years in prison for supporting Damache's work.

Damache initially fought extradition from Ireland. His path from Ireland to Spain was unclear. His arrest in Barcelona came after police received information he was in the city, changing hotels every few days.

 

[The Bobster]

http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news...rtoonist-Plot-Extradited-to-US-435886253.html

Al-Qaida Suspect Linked to Cartoonist Plot Extradited to US
A 2011 indictment accused him of taking part in a plot to kill Swedish artist Lars Vilks, who depicted the prophet Muhammad as a dog
Published at 4:17 PM EDT on Jul 21, 2017 | Updated at 11:08 PM EDT on Jul 21, 2017

This is a Monday, March, 15, 2010 file photo of Ali Charaf Damache as he arrives at the courthouse in Waterford Ireland, Algerian man Ali Charaf Damache wanted by American authorities over the abortive "Jihad Jane" plot to assassinate a Swedish artist was arrested while leaving an Irish courthouse.


An al-Qaida suspect linked to a plot to kill a Swedish cartoonist has been brought to Philadelphia from Spain to face terrorism charges in federal court, despite President Donald Trump's promises to send terror suspects to the military prison at Guantanamo Bay.

Ali Charaf Damache, 52, of Algeria, appeared in court Friday and will be arraigned next month on charges that he conspired with two American women and a high school honors student from Maryland, court officials said.

A 2011 indictment accused him of aiding terrorism, including the plan to kill Swedish artist Lars Vilks, who depicted the prophet Muhammad as a dog. The plot never materialized.

The Trump administration's decision to bring him to the United States marks a break from Attorney General Jeff Sessions' oft-stated belief that Guantanamo Bay is the best place for "these kinds of dangerous criminals."

During the presidential campaign, Trump said he not only wanted to keep the detention center in Cuba open after the Obama administration had long fought to close it, but promised to "load it up with some bad dudes."

Obama's Justice Department maintained the U.S. civilian court system was the most legally sound forum in which to prosecute terror suspects captured in the U.S. and overseas and cited hundreds of convictions in New York and other cities as proof.

Yet Sessions and other Republicans have often expressed concern that civilian courts afford legal protections to which suspected terrorists are not entitled. He has warned valuable intelligence can be lost if a detainee is advised of his or her right to remain silent and to have a lawyer.

The Justice Department did not say what led officials to send Damache to federal court or whether it signals a shift in Sessions' views. The attorney general made no mention of the case during a Friday speech in Philadelphia on sanctuary cities and fighting violent crime.

"The individual involved in this case was indicted in 2011 in federal district court," the department said in a statement. "The United States has consistently used the extradition process to obtain indicted fugitives who are overseas, so that they can stand trial in our federal courts."

Former Attorney General Eric Holder, who long defended the prosecution of terrorism suspects in civilian court, said Friday that the Trump administration's tough rhetoric on Guantanamo was "political and counterproductive."

"It's good to see that the president and the Attorney General now seem to share my belief in the effectiveness of the world's greatest judicial system and its ability to keep the American people safe," he said. (Shut up, nigger!)

Damache married a Colorado woman the day she traveled to Ireland to meet him in 2009. Jamie Paulin-Ramirez eventually helped the FBI investigate the terror cell, which included a Pennsylvania woman who called herself "Jihad Jane" online.

Damache, known as "Black Flag" had been fighting extradition after his 2015 arrest in Spain. Lawyer Joseph Mancano, appointed Friday to represent him, said he did not have any immediate comment.

Officials said that Damache joined co-defendants Mohammad Hassan Khalid, Colleen "Jihad Jane" LaRose and Paulin-Ramirez in forming a cell that recruited men online to wage jihad in South Asia and Europe, and to recruit women with western passports to travel through Europe in support of the cause.

LaRose is serving a 10-year prison term and Paulin-Ramirez eight years after pleading guilty to providing material aid to terrorism while Khalid, whose family had immigrated from Pakistan, was sentenced to five years.

Paulin-Ramirez took her 6-year-old son with her to Waterford, where he was taught to be a warrior and hate non-Muslims. The boy also endured physical abuse during the four-month stay, according to prosecutors who showed a video at her 2014 sentencing of him reciting inflammatory verses and thrusting a toy weapon as his mother laughed. She told the judge she hoped the boy would forget what she put him through.

A defense expert testified that she had a twisted view of the religion, culled from extremist postings.

Damache's arraignment was scheduled for Aug. 28.

It's unclear what the case could mean for future terror cases or for the future of Guantanamo Bay. Sessions, his deputy Rod Rosenstein and other administration officials visited the prison earlier this month to get a look at current operations. Support for it now would represent a reversal of eight years of efforts to close the detention center, which opened on the base in January 2002 to hold and interrogate suspected enemy combatants.

The Obama administration sent no new detainees there, and though it didn't fulfill a promise to shut it down, whittled the population from 242 to 41. That includes seven currently facing charges by military commissions. All are in the pretrial stage, including the five men charged with planning and aiding in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack.

 

[The Bobster]

http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2017/07/25/al-qaida-suspect-extradited-to-philly/

Al-Qaida Suspect Linked To Cartoonist Plot Extradited To Philly
July 25, 2017 10:24 AM

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — An al-Qaida suspect linked to a plot to kill a Swedish cartoonist has been brought to Philadelphia from Spain to face terrorism charges in federal court, despite President Donald Trump’s promises to send terror suspects to the military prison at Guantanamo Bay.

Ali Charaf Damache, 52, of Algeria, appeared in court Friday and will be arraigned next month on charges that he conspired with two American women and a high school honors student from Maryland, court officials said.

A 2011 indictment accused him of aiding terrorism, including the plan to kill Swedish artist Lars Vilks, who depicted the prophet Muhammad as a dog. The plot never materialized.

The Trump administration’s decision to bring him to the United States marks a break from Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ oft-stated belief that Guantanamo Bay is the best place for “these kinds of dangerous criminals.”

During the presidential campaign, Trump said he not only wanted to keep the detention center in Cuba open after the Obama administration had long fought to close it, but promised to “load it up with some bad dudes.”

Obama’s Justice Department maintained the U.S. civilian court system was the most legally sound forum in which to prosecute terror suspects captured in the U.S. and overseas and cited hundreds of convictions in New York and other cities as proof.

Yet Sessions and other Republicans have often expressed concern that civilian courts afford legal protections to which suspected terrorists are not entitled. He has warned valuable intelligence can be lost if a detainee is advised of his or her right to remain silent and to have a lawyer.

The Justice Department did not say what led officials to send Damache to federal court or whether it signals a shift in Sessions’ views. The attorney general made no mention of the case during a Friday speech in Philadelphia on sanctuary cities and fighting violent crime.

“The individual involved in this case was indicted in 2011 in federal district court,” the department said in a statement. “The United States has consistently used the extradition process to obtain indicted fugitives who are overseas, so that they can stand trial in our federal courts.”

Former Attorney General Eric Holder, who long defended the prosecution of terrorism suspects in civilian court, said Friday that the Trump administration’s tough rhetoric on Guantanamo was “political and counterproductive.”

“It’s good to see that the president and the Attorney General now seem to share my belief in the effectiveness of the world’s greatest judicial system and its ability to keep the American people safe,” he said.

Damache married a Colorado woman the day she traveled to Ireland to meet him in 2009. Jamie Paulin-Ramirez eventually helped the FBI investigate the terror cell, which included a Pennsylvania woman who called herself “Jihad Jane” online.

Damache, known as “Black Flag” had been fighting extradition after his 2015 arrest in Spain. Lawyer Joseph Mancano, appointed Friday to represent him, said he did not have any immediate comment.

Officials said that Damache joined co-defendants Mohammad Hassan Khalid, Colleen “Jihad Jane” LaRose and Paulin-Ramirez in forming a cell that recruited men online to wage jihad in South Asia and Europe, and to recruit women with western passports to travel through Europe in support of the cause.

LaRose is serving a 10-year prison term and Paulin-Ramirez eight years after pleading guilty to providing material aid to terrorism while Khalid, whose family had immigrated from Pakistan, was sentenced to five years.

Police: Woman Seriously Injured After Pushed From Moving Vehicle

Paulin-Ramirez took her 6-year-old son with her to Waterford, where he was taught to be a warrior and hate non-Muslims. The boy also endured physical abuse during the four-month stay, according to prosecutors who showed a video at her 2014 sentencing of him reciting inflammatory verses and thrusting a toy weapon as his mother laughed. She told the judge she hoped the boy would forget what she put him through.

A defense expert testified that she had a twisted view of the religion, culled from extremist postings.

Damache’s arraignment was scheduled for Aug. 28.

It’s unclear what the case could mean for future terror cases or for the future of Guantanamo Bay. Sessions, his deputy Rod Rosenstein and other administration officials visited the prison earlier this month to get a look at current operations. Support for it now would represent a reversal of eight years of efforts to close the detention center, which opened on the base in January 2002 to hold and interrogate suspected enemy combatants.

The Obama administration sent no new detainees there, and though it didn’t fulfill a promise to shut it down, whittled the population from 242 to 41. That includes seven currently facing charges by military commissions. All are in the pretrial stage, including the five men charged with planning and aiding in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack.

 

[The Bobster]

http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news...toonist-Plot-Pleads-Not-Guilty-442143053.html

Al-Qaida Suspect Linked to Plot to Kill Cartoonist Pleads Not Guilty in Philly
Published at 2:35 PM EDT on Aug 29, 2017 | Updated at 2:36 PM EDT on Aug 29, 2017

This is a Monday, March, 15, 2010 file photo of Ali Charaf Damache as he arrives at the courthouse in Waterford Ireland, Algerian man Ali Charaf Damache wanted by American authorities over the abortive "Jihad Jane" plot to assassinate a Swedish artist was arrested while leaving an Irish courthouse Wednesday and could face U.S. extradition demands within hours. Ali Charaf Damache, 47, had just walked free from a court in Waterford, southeast Ireland, after three years in an Irish prison when detectives acting on an American extradition warrant rearrested and escorted him, handcuffed, to an unmarked police car. Court officials said his extradition proceedings could begin Thursday Feb. 28, 2013 in Dublin High Court.


An al-Qaida suspect linked to a plot to kill a Swedish cartoonist has pleaded not guilty to terrorism charges.

A lawyer for 52-year-old Ali Charaf Damache, of Algeria, says his client appeared in federal court Monday and pleaded not guilty to charges he was involved in a terror cell that wanted to kill a cartoonist who depicted the Prophet Muhammad as a dog.

Records show Damache is being held in a federal detention center in Philadelphia.

Prosecutors say the Ireland-based terror cell included a Pennsylvania woman known as Jihad Jane.

Damache is known as The Black Flag. He was brought from Spain to Philadelphia last month to be tried in a civilian court despite President Donald Trump's promise to send terror suspects to the military prison at Guantanamo Bay.