You just never know where that “inner spiritual struggle” will take you. Fortunately, in Mohammed Mansour Jabarah’s case, that itinerary ended in prison, his plans foiled. “Indictment: Canadian planned attacks in U.S.,” by Kelli Arena and Bill Mears for CNN:
WASHINGTON (CNN) — A Canadian who has pleaded guilty to charges including conspiracy to kill Americans and conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction against U.S. property will be sentenced Friday, his lawyer said.
Mohammed Mansour Jabarah, 25, pleaded guilty shortly after his arrest in 2002. His indictment and plea were unsealed late Thursday at the U.S. District Court in New York.
Prosecutors recommended last June that he be sentenced to life in prison.
Jabarah, also known by the nickname “Sammy,” also allegedly pledged allegiance to al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.
The government had been investigating Jabarah since his arrest overseas. Court papers allege he was trained in al Qaeda camps in Afghanistan.
He met with bin Laden and al Qaeda leader Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in the summer of 2001, was given money and told to carry out attacks on U.S. embassies in Southeast Asia, the government says. Those plots failed.
The indictment alleges Jabarah and other al Qaeda members “unlawfully, willfully, and knowingly combined, conspired, confederated, and agreed to kill nationals of the United States.”
He later allegedly went to Oman to set up safe houses for al Qaeda members fleeing Afghanistan. There, he was arrested.
Jabarah’s guilty plea and sentence were first tied to a cooperation agreement. U.S. officials said he initially helped ongoing terror probes, while staying in an FBI-arranged house under the around-the-clock watch of federal agents.
But “Jabarah was secretly planning to exploit the perception of cooperation,” to carry out a “martyrdom mission” to kill American agents and prosecutors, U.S. officials said.
Knives, rope and directions for making explosives were found in his possession.