Man sentenced to five years for role in NYC synagogue bomb plot

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

Man sentenced to five years for role in NYC synagogue bomb plot

By Joseph Ax
NEW YORK | Fri Apr 26, 2013 3:49pm EDT

(Reuters) - A man was sentenced on Friday to five years in prison for plotting to blow up synagogues in New York City, only the third conviction under a state terror statute passed in the wake of the September 11, 2001 World Trade Center attacks.

Mohamed Mamdouh, 22, a Moroccan-born U.S. citizen, appeared in a state court in Manhattan after previously pleading guilty to conspiracy as a crime of terrorism and two related weapons charges.

Prosecutors accused him of planning to bomb various synagogues with a co-conspirator, Ahmed Ferhani, in retaliation for what they believed to be shoddy treatment of Muslims throughout the world.

Ferhani, 28, an Algerian, was considered the driving force behind the plot and was sentenced to 10 years in prison in March.

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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/04/26/us-usa-crime-terror-idUSBRE93P17N20130426

[BethanyQuartz]

1. Only 5 years for the one and 10 for the other?

Makes me wonder if the evidence was shaky. Or else the terrorism laws need some serious looking over. I mean don't get me wrong, our government scares the hell out of me. Some of them want to slap the 'terrorism' label on everything from the manufacture of crystal meth to just hating America, but if you're going to charge somebody for plotting what would surely have been a hate crime and mass murder (I'm assuming these guys didn't plan to wait until the buildings were empty), then at least give them proper sentences. Like, life maybe?