Abdul Malik Abdul Kareem wanted revenge against people who drew Muhammad. He wanted to kill people who drew Muhammad. In the face of that, free people have two choices: they can draw Muhammad, thereby showing that they will not submit to violent intimidation, or they can refrain from drawing Muhammad, thereby showing that they can be bullied into submission.
I am proud that I was at Garland and was, with Pamela Geller, one of the organizers and sponsors of the event. I will never submit to bullying, and as the late Charb of Charlie Hebdo said, I would rather die standing up than live on my knees.
“ISIS supporter sentenced to prison in Muhammad cartoon contest attack,” FoxNews.com, February 8, 2017:
An American-born Muslim convert convicted of supporting the Islamic State terror group and helping to plot a 2015 attack on a Prophet Muhammad cartoon contest in Texas was sentenced Wednesday to 30 years behind bars.
Abdul Malik Abdul Kareem told the judge in Phoenix he “had nothing to do” with the attack. However, authorities said Kareem provided the cash that his two friends – Elton Simpson and Nadir Soofi – used to open fire outside the anti-Islam event in Garland.
Simpson and Soofi were killed in a police shootout outside the contest and a security guard was wounded. No one else was hurt.
Prosecutors sought a life sentence for Kareem, who became the second person in the U.S. to be convicted of charges of supporting ISIS. He was convicted of conspiring to support a foreign terrorist organization, interstate transportation of firearms and other charges.
During the investigation, police found that Kareem has hosted two ISIS followers in his home to discuss the attack. It’s still unknown whether the Texas attack was inspired by ISIS or carried out in response to an order from the group.
Prosecutors have said Kareem watched videos depicting violence by jihadists with the two friends, encouraged them to launch violent attack to support the terrorist group and researched travel to the Middle East to join Islamic State fighters.
Authorities also said Kareem inquired about explosives to blow up the Arizona stadium where the 2015 Super Bowl was held, but later set his sights on the cartoon contest after the stadium plan fell through.
The verdicts against Kareem nearly a year ago marked the second conviction of someone within the United States on charges of supporting the Islamic State. He was convicted of conspiring to support a foreign terrorist organization, interstate transportation of firearms and other charges.
Kareem denies involvement in the plan to attack the contest, testifying that he didn’t know his friends were going to attack the contest and didn’t find out about the shooting until after Simpson and Soofi were killed….