Tag: Christmas tree bomber

Portland, OR: Somali Christmas tree bomber to be sentenced today

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Update:  Sentenced to 30 years, here.

The government wants 40 years.  It isn’t just Minneapolis producing Somali terrorists!  They must not have enough “programs” in Portland either.

http://21stcenturywire.com/2014/01/14/christmas-tree-bomber-could-mount-a-constitutional-challenge-to-nsa-program/

From Oregon Live:

Nearly four years have passed since then 19-year-old Mohamed Osman Mohamud dialed the numbers on a cell phone to set off what he thought was a massive bomb at Portland’s annual holiday tree-lighting ceremony.

He expected thousands of those gathered to celebrate at Pioneer Courthouse Square to die and be injured. Instead, he was arrested. The “bomb” was a harmless fake and the Al-Qaida operatives who helped him plan the attack were undercover FBI agents.

Today, a federal judge is to hand down his sentence in a hearing that begins at 10 a.m. at the Mark O. Hatfield courthouse. While the government is seeking a minimum of 40 years in prison, Mohamud’s lawyers are asking for 10. It is up to Senior U.S. District Judge Garr King’s discretion to choose a sentence of up to life in prison.

For new readers, go here for all of our coverage of the Somali refugee bomb plot case in Portland.

And remember!  As of August 31st (11 months into the 2014 fiscal year) we have allowed 8,278 more Somalis into the US through refugee resettlement.

Sentencing to be set aside in Somali Christmas tree bomber case

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment
Mohamed Osman Mohamud, then 19, is shown after his arrest on Nov. 26, 2010, in Portland, Ore. Mohamud was convicted of planning to detonate a bomb during a Christmas tree-lighting ceremony…..

Just when I thought I could take a break from Somali posts today,* here comes news from a few days ago (hat tip: Judy) that due to questions about the legality of NSA spying on private communications, the case of Mohamed Osman Mohamud, the 2010 Portland Oregon Christmas tree convicted bomber, could go into a legal black hole.

Mohamud, whose family came here as refugees, had hoped to blow up the tree and the families there for the tree-lighting ceremony.

From NPR:

The sentencing of a Somali-American man convicted of trying to bomb a holiday tree-lighting ceremony in Portland, Ore., in 2010 has been put on hold indefinitely. That move comes just days after the Justice Department notified his lawyers that part of the case against him had been “derived from” secret NSA electronic surveillance.

Both sides met Tuesday in the chambers of U.S. District Judge Garr King to discuss next steps. The judge later issued a public order delaying the sentencing of Mohamed Osman Mohamud, which had been scheduled to take place Dec. 18.

“If sentencing remains appropriate, the court will reset the sentencing hearing,” after it rules on motions from federal public defenders Stephen R. Sady and Lisa Hay, the judge’s order said.

The move could foreshadow months or even years of legal wrangling, if the case becomes a vehicle to challenge the constitutionality of once-secret NSA monitoring of overseas email and social media accounts.

Wasn’t this just the sort of Islamic terror case we should be unraveling with NSA surveillance?

Photo and portion of caption is also from NPR.

Here is our archive of the Christmas tree bomber case.

*Actually I do have more Somali posts, so to readers who have sent them, I am going to get to them!