Moroccan Immigrant Sentenced To Five Years in N.Y. Synagogue Plot
(The Moroccan to the right)
By Mourad Anouar
Morocco News Tribune
Oklahoma, U.S.A |A Moroccan immigrant was sentenced Friday in a state court in Manhattan to five years in prison for plotting to bomb synagogues in New York City.
Mohamed Mamdouh, 22, a naturalized citizen from Morocco, who had pleaded guilty in a closed-court proceeding last year to conspiracy and weapons possession as crimes of terror becomes the second person convicted under state terrorism laws passed shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks, according to court records.
Mamdouh, of Queens, was arrested in 2011 along with suspected plot ringleader Ahmed Ferhani, a native of Algeria, who received a ten-year sentence last month as the scheme’s mastermind.
The two men, when arrested two years ago, had been taped during an eight-month NYPD undercover operation and charged with terrorism and hate crimes for a plot to go on a killing spree in New York synagogues after buying two Browning semi-automatic pistols, a Smith & Wesson revolver, ammunition and an inert grenade, local police said.
It is to note that Mohamed Mamdouh declared his innocence first when he was brought before court, stating that an unfortunate twist landed him behind bars.
Mamdouh accused his co-defendant Ahmed Ferhani of chattering about a synagogue slaughter plot while they were together once.
“I had nothing to do with this. I was at the wrong place at the wrong time. . . . I don’t have problems with anyone – not Jews, not anyone.” told.
Authorities said Ferhani and Mamdouh had intentions to to avenge what they considered as mistreatment and oppression of Muslims around the world.
Mamdouh immigrated with his family in 1999.
