US 'Jihad Jane' charged with planning terror attacks in Europe
An American woman known as "Jihad Jane" was charged by US prosecutors on Tuesday with recruiting jihadist fighters to plan terror attacks in Europe and South Asia.
By Tom Leonard in New York
Published: 11:05PM GMT 09 Mar 2010
Colleen LaRose, a woman from suburban Philadelphia who was "desperate to do something" to help suffering Muslims, is also accused of agreeing to kill a Swedish citizen on orders from unnamed terrorists.
Miss LaRose, who is believed to be 47, is alleged to have travelled to Sweden to carry out the killing, but it is understood she was stopped by the authorities before she could do it.
A Justice Department statement said she was recruited over the internet by a contact who ordered her to kill the target in a way that would frighten "the whole Kufar [non-believer] world".
US prosecutors say Miss LaRose, who is also known as Fatima Rose, and five collaborators believed that her appearance and American citizenship would help her "blend in" while carrying out her plans.
They also allegedly recruited men online "to wage violent jihad in South Asia and Europe, and recruited women on the internet who has who had passports and the ability to travel to and around Europe in support of violent jihad", said the statement.
The suspect, who faces a possible life sentence and a $1 million (£670,000) fine if convicted, is also accused of stealing a US passport in order to "facilitate an act of international terrorism".
She allegedly referred to herself as "Jihad Jane" in a YouTube video in which she said she was "desperate to do something somehow to help" ease the suffering of Muslims. According to the indictment, she agreed to obtain residency in a European country and marry one of the terrorists to enable him to live there.
Although she has not been linked with any specific terror groups, she has been charged with conspiracy to provide material support for terrorists and kill a person in a foreign country.
David Kris, an assistant attorney general for the National Security Division, said the case "shatters any lingering thought that we can spot a terrorist based on appearance".
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnew...-in-Europe.html
and
March 9, 2010
Pennsylvania Woman Tied to Plot on Cartoonist
By CHARLIE SAVAGE
WASHINGTON — A Pennsylvania woman who called herself JihadJane was tied Tuesday to an alleged assassination plot against a Swedish cartoonist who depicted the prophet Muhammad atop the body of a dog.
In an indictment unsealed Tuesday, federal prosecutors accused Colleen R. LaRose, an American from the suburbs of Philadelphia, of linking up through the Internet with militants overseas and plotting to carry out a murder.
Ms. LaRose, 46, was arrested in Philadelphia in October, but her case was kept under seal. Although the indictment does not identify the target, a law enforcement official said her case was linked to the arrests Tuesday of seven Muslims in Ireland in connection with a scheme to kill the cartoonist, Lars Vilks. A group linked to Al Qaeda had put a $100,000 bounty on his head for the cartoon, which the group perceived as an insult to Islam.
European news reports said Irish police, who arrested the four men and three women in Cork and Waterford, had coordinated the operation with the United States. A Justice Department spokesman would not confirm whether Ms. LaRose had been involved with the Irish assassination plot.
Mark T. Wilson and Rossman D. Thompson, federal public defenders in Philadelphia who are representing Ms. LaRose, declined to comment.
She is one of just a handful of women charged in the United States with terrorism offenses in recent years. Michael L. Levy, the United States attorney for Eastern Pennsylvania, said in a statement the case illustrated how terrorists were looking for American recruits who could blend in. “It shatters any lingering thought that we can spot a terrorist based on appearance,” he said.
Ms. LaRose is white, with blond hair and green eyes, according to the law enforcement official, who was not authorized to share details of the case and spoke only on the condition of anonymity. The official said Ms. LaRose was born in Michigan and later lived in Texas and Montgomery County, Pa.
The indictment said that in mid-2008, Ms. LaRose, using the aliases JihadJane and Fatima LaRose, began posting on YouTube and other Internet sites messages about her desire to help Muslims. By early 2009, the court papers said, she was exchanging e-mail messages with unidentified co-conspirators in Southeast Asia and Europe and expressed a desire to become a martyr for an Islamist cause.
The indictment refers to e-mail messages in which a conspirator, citing how Ms. LaRose’s appearance and American passport would make it easier for her to operate undetected, allegedly directed her in March 2009 to go to Sweden to help carry out a murder. She agreed to do so, writing, <span style="font-weight: bold">“I will make this my goal till I achieve it or die trying,” the indictment says. She and another unnamed American later posted online solicitations for money for that project, </span>the document said.
Ms. LaRose had attracted the government’s attention by then, the indictment said. She was questioned by F.B.I. agents on July 17, 2009, and falsely told them that she had never solicited money online for terrorism, had never used the alias JihadJane and had never made postings on a terrorist Web site, the court papers say. She is also charged with making false statements.
Despite drawing the F.B.I.’s attention, the indictment says Ms. LaRose traveled to Europe in August, joined an online community hosted by the intended Swedish victim in September and performed online searches to track him. She apparently never attempted to carry out the killing.
The indictment also says Ms. LaRose recruited other people on the Internet to wage or support jihadist attacks. It does not say whether any of them attempted to carry out an operation.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/10/us/10pennsylvania.html?ref=global-home
An American woman known as "Jihad Jane" was charged by US prosecutors on Tuesday with recruiting jihadist fighters to plan terror attacks in Europe and South Asia.
By Tom Leonard in New York
Published: 11:05PM GMT 09 Mar 2010
Colleen LaRose, a woman from suburban Philadelphia who was "desperate to do something" to help suffering Muslims, is also accused of agreeing to kill a Swedish citizen on orders from unnamed terrorists.
Miss LaRose, who is believed to be 47, is alleged to have travelled to Sweden to carry out the killing, but it is understood she was stopped by the authorities before she could do it.
A Justice Department statement said she was recruited over the internet by a contact who ordered her to kill the target in a way that would frighten "the whole Kufar [non-believer] world".
US prosecutors say Miss LaRose, who is also known as Fatima Rose, and five collaborators believed that her appearance and American citizenship would help her "blend in" while carrying out her plans.
They also allegedly recruited men online "to wage violent jihad in South Asia and Europe, and recruited women on the internet who has who had passports and the ability to travel to and around Europe in support of violent jihad", said the statement.
The suspect, who faces a possible life sentence and a $1 million (£670,000) fine if convicted, is also accused of stealing a US passport in order to "facilitate an act of international terrorism".
She allegedly referred to herself as "Jihad Jane" in a YouTube video in which she said she was "desperate to do something somehow to help" ease the suffering of Muslims. According to the indictment, she agreed to obtain residency in a European country and marry one of the terrorists to enable him to live there.
Although she has not been linked with any specific terror groups, she has been charged with conspiracy to provide material support for terrorists and kill a person in a foreign country.
David Kris, an assistant attorney general for the National Security Division, said the case "shatters any lingering thought that we can spot a terrorist based on appearance".
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnew...-in-Europe.html
and
March 9, 2010
Pennsylvania Woman Tied to Plot on Cartoonist
By CHARLIE SAVAGE
WASHINGTON — A Pennsylvania woman who called herself JihadJane was tied Tuesday to an alleged assassination plot against a Swedish cartoonist who depicted the prophet Muhammad atop the body of a dog.
In an indictment unsealed Tuesday, federal prosecutors accused Colleen R. LaRose, an American from the suburbs of Philadelphia, of linking up through the Internet with militants overseas and plotting to carry out a murder.
Ms. LaRose, 46, was arrested in Philadelphia in October, but her case was kept under seal. Although the indictment does not identify the target, a law enforcement official said her case was linked to the arrests Tuesday of seven Muslims in Ireland in connection with a scheme to kill the cartoonist, Lars Vilks. A group linked to Al Qaeda had put a $100,000 bounty on his head for the cartoon, which the group perceived as an insult to Islam.
European news reports said Irish police, who arrested the four men and three women in Cork and Waterford, had coordinated the operation with the United States. A Justice Department spokesman would not confirm whether Ms. LaRose had been involved with the Irish assassination plot.
Mark T. Wilson and Rossman D. Thompson, federal public defenders in Philadelphia who are representing Ms. LaRose, declined to comment.
She is one of just a handful of women charged in the United States with terrorism offenses in recent years. Michael L. Levy, the United States attorney for Eastern Pennsylvania, said in a statement the case illustrated how terrorists were looking for American recruits who could blend in. “It shatters any lingering thought that we can spot a terrorist based on appearance,” he said.
Ms. LaRose is white, with blond hair and green eyes, according to the law enforcement official, who was not authorized to share details of the case and spoke only on the condition of anonymity. The official said Ms. LaRose was born in Michigan and later lived in Texas and Montgomery County, Pa.
The indictment said that in mid-2008, Ms. LaRose, using the aliases JihadJane and Fatima LaRose, began posting on YouTube and other Internet sites messages about her desire to help Muslims. By early 2009, the court papers said, she was exchanging e-mail messages with unidentified co-conspirators in Southeast Asia and Europe and expressed a desire to become a martyr for an Islamist cause.
The indictment refers to e-mail messages in which a conspirator, citing how Ms. LaRose’s appearance and American passport would make it easier for her to operate undetected, allegedly directed her in March 2009 to go to Sweden to help carry out a murder. She agreed to do so, writing, <span style="font-weight: bold">“I will make this my goal till I achieve it or die trying,” the indictment says. She and another unnamed American later posted online solicitations for money for that project, </span>the document said.
Ms. LaRose had attracted the government’s attention by then, the indictment said. She was questioned by F.B.I. agents on July 17, 2009, and falsely told them that she had never solicited money online for terrorism, had never used the alias JihadJane and had never made postings on a terrorist Web site, the court papers say. She is also charged with making false statements.
Despite drawing the F.B.I.’s attention, the indictment says Ms. LaRose traveled to Europe in August, joined an online community hosted by the intended Swedish victim in September and performed online searches to track him. She apparently never attempted to carry out the killing.
The indictment also says Ms. LaRose recruited other people on the Internet to wage or support jihadist attacks. It does not say whether any of them attempted to carry out an operation.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/10/us/10pennsylvania.html?ref=global-home
