Tuesday, April 9, 2019
Muslim Teen pleads guilty to plotting mass-murder terror attack at Texas mall
A state judge sentenced Matin Azizi-Yarand to 20 years in prison Monday for solicitation of capital murder and making a terroristic threat, state and federal prosecutors announced. The 18-year-old is eligible for parole after serving 10 years.
Azizi-Yarand was arrested last May for plotting to shoot civilians and police at a Frisco mall in a rampage authorities said he was timing to coincide with Ramadan. IS has called on its supporters to carry out attacks during the Muslim holy month.
The then-high school student had been recruiting others to participate in the shooting and planned to explain it with the release of a "Message to America," according to prosecutors. He spent more than $1,400 buying weapons and tactical gear, and had been conducting surveillance of the mall.
Azizi-Yarand believes his plea agreement is a "fair deal" and is ready to begin his prison term, his lawyer, Mitch Nolte, told The Associated Press.
Azizi-Yarand was indicted in July , but his age presented a challenge for prosecutors.
Terrorism cases are typically brought in federal court. But because Azizi-Yarand was 17 at the time of the crime and a minor under federal law, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Texas was limited in the...
Muslim Man in Maryland Inspired by ISIS Taken Down Before Alleged Plot To Mow Down US Citizens with U-Haul
If Islamic terrorism gets mentioned at all in this country, it’s only to state that it’s less dangerous than terrorism from white supremacists. Which, while terrorism from white supremacists is indeed dangerous, I don’t remember them crashing planes into the World Trade Center and Pentagon, killing nearly 3,000 people in the process.
Rondell Henry wasn’t thinking that big, according to federal prosecutors. However, the alleged wannabe terrorist still wanted to emulate the 2016 attack in Nice, France, that killed 87 people, according to documents unveiled in a Washington-area court this week.
“A Maryland man inspired by the Islamic State group plotted to ram a stolen U-Haul truck into as many pedestrians as possible at a popular convention and tourist destination just outside the nation’s capital, federal prosecutors said Monday,” The Associated Press reported.
“The allegation was made in a court filing as prosecutors in Maryland urged a judge to keep...
Nunes files a $150 million lawsuit against ‘The Fake News McClatchy Company’
The filing, obtained by Fox News, came a day after Nunes, R-Calif., revealed he would send eight criminal referrals to the Justice Department this week concerning purported surveillance abuses by federal authorities during the Russia probe, false statements to Congress and other matters.
“They need to retract everything they did against me, but they also need to come clean with the American people,” Nunes told Fox News’ “Hannity” Monday night. “Retract all of their fake news stories. This is part of the broader clean-up. Remember, a few weeks ago, I filed against Twitter — they’re censoring conservatives. McClatchy is one of the worst offenders of this. But we’re coming after the...
Sanctioning Revolutionary Guard as Terrorist Group Will Hit Iran Hard. Here’s Why.
In a historic move on Monday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced the designation of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a foreign terrorist organization.
This is the first time the U.S. has given the designation to part of a government.
The designation will enable the U.S. to further ramp up sanctions against Iran’s tyrannical regime under the administration’s “maximum pressure” policy.
The Revolutionary Guard Corps is both the sword and shield of Iran’s Islamic revolution, dating back to 1979. It is charged with attacking Iran’s enemies overseas, supporting Iran’s network of foreign terrorist proxies, and crushing political opposition to Iran’s revolutionary regime at home.
Last week, the Pentagon released an updated assessment that blamed Iran’s Revolutionary Guard for enabling Iraqi proxy forces to kill 603 American servicemen in Iraq. That accounts for about 17% of the total deaths of U.S. personnel from 2003 to 2011.
The Revolutionary Guard also controls Iran’s ballistic missile program, military aspects of its nuclear program, and key portions of Iran’s state-dominated economy.
The designation as a foreign terrorist organization will become effective next Monday, at which time the U.S. government will gain additional tools for applying sanctions against the Revolutionary Guards and all foreign entities that do business with them, their subsidiaries, and their front companies.
This will allow U.S. sanctions to hit harder at strategic sectors of Iran’s economy, since the Revolutionary Guard is extensively involved in Iran’s oil, construction, and defense industries. As CIA director in 2017, Pompeo estimated that the Revolutionary Guard controlled about 20% of Iran’s economy.
These added sanctions will drain away resources that could be used to export terrorism, thus helping bolster the security of the U.S. and its allies. This will also benefit the Iranian people, who are the chief victims of the Revolutionary Guard.
The new sanctions also will ratchet up pressure on foreign firms that continue to do business with Iran. Such firms could now face prosecution in U.S. courts for providing material support for terrorism if they engage in...
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