“If that’s how they call it then so be it I am what I am” — until she gets caught, apparently.
“Second Woman in ‘Jihad Jane’ Case Pleads Not Guilty (Update1),” by Sophia Pearson for Bloomberg, April 7:
April 7 (Bloomberg) — A second woman tied to the alleged “Jihad Jane” terror plot pleaded not guilty to charges she conspired to support and train with terrorists.
Jamie Paulin Ramirez, a former Colorado resident, entered her plea today in federal court in Philadelphia. Prosecutors added her name to a four-count indictment charging Colleen LaRose, who went by the alias Jihad Jane, with conspiring to provide support to terrorists and commit murder in a foreign country.
“She’s very troubled and extremely distraught,” Ramirez’s defense attorney Jeremy Ibrahim said after the hearing. His client pleaded not guilty by shaking her head because, Ibrahim said, he didn’t want to give the government a sample of her voice. The attorney said much of the government’s evidence may include recordings of Ramirez’s conversations that may have been taken from seized computer hard drives. Ramirez will be held in custody while she awaits trial. No trial date has been set.
Ramirez, 31, was arrested April 2 after voluntarily flying to the U.S. from Ireland, Ibrahim has said. She accepted an invitation from LaRose to attend a “training camp” in Europe last year, according to prosecutors. Ramirez is charged with one count of conspiracy and faces as much as 15 years in prison.
‘Live and Train’
Prosecutors said Ramirez and her 6-year-old son went to Europe in September “with the intent to live and train with jihadists.” She also allegedly married an unnamed and unindicted co-conspirator who she had never met before, the government said.
Ramirez is “distraught and depressed” over the charge and her separation from her son, Ibrahim said. The boy is in the care of child services, the lawyer said.
LaRose contacted Ramirez in August stating that she would “send” for Ramirez to meet her in Europe at a place that would be “like a training camp as well as a home,” according to the indictment. LaRose wrote in e-mails to Ramirez that she was “a terrorist and proud to be this,” according to the indictment. Ramirez responded by stating “that’s right … if that’s how they call it then so be it I am what I am,” according to the government….