'Jihad Jane' Gets 10 Years in Prison for Terrorism Plot (1)

Bloomberg News

Colleen LaRose, the Pennsylvania woman who went by the alias 'Jihad Jane,' was sentenced to 10 years in prison for her role in a plot to murder a Swedish cartoonist who ridiculed the Islamic Prophet Muhammad.

U.S. District Judge Petrese B. Tucker imposed the sentence today in federal court in Philadelphia. LaRose pleaded guilty in February 2011 to conspiring to provide support to terrorists and commit murder in a foreign country. She has been jailed since her arrest in October 2009.

LaRose, also known as Fatima LaRose, of Pennsburg, Pennsylvania, worked with other indicted co-conspirators through the Internet to recruit men and women for terrorist groups. She also solicited funds for terrorists by using e-mail and YouTube accounts to publish literature and videos, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors tied LaRose to a group plotting to murder Swedish artist Lars Vilks, who drew a cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad with a dog's body in 2007. Two other co-conspirators, Mohammad Hassan Khalid, a Pakistani native who had been living in Maryland, and Jamie Paulin Ramirez, a former Colorado resident, are scheduled to be sentenced later this week.

Khalid and another man, Ali Charaf Damache, allegedly helped LaRose provide logistical and financial support and recruitment services in the plot. Both were charged with crimes including conspiracy and identity theft in October 2011.

Khalid pleaded guilty in May 2012. Damache, an Algerian who acted as LaRose's handler, has been fighting extradition from Ireland, where he was arrested on unrelated charges.

The case is U.S. v. LaRose, 10-cr-00123, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia).

To contact the reporter on this story: Sophia Pearson in federal court in Philadelphia at spearson3@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Michael Hytha at mhytha@bloomberg.net