Apparently, five Muslim immigrants could spend the rest of their lives behind bars as they are accused of plotting a massacre of U.S. Soldiers.
Mohamad Shnewer of Jordan, Serdar Tatar of Turkey, and the Duka Brothers (Dritan, Eljvir, and Shain) of former Yugoslavia could spend the rest of their lives behind bars? Why? The three have been convicted of a plot to orchestrate a massacre against U.S. servicemen at Fort Dix. All five of them have been living around Philadelphia, Pennsylvania for many years. However, they were acquitted on the charges of attempted murder.
The sentencing is set for April. So far, investigators said that they have no ties to any of the foreign terrorist groups.
Faten Shnewer, the mother of Mohamad is angered. “
Not my son and his friends. It’s not right, it’s not justice.” She explains that her son was pushed into saying that stuff. Defense lawyers claim that the men were being egged on by paid FBI informants.
However, they are expecting backlash from the Muslim and Muslim-American community. Mohamed Younes, the President of the American Muslim Union, said the five men were probably joking around.
But, there is possible suspicion that can be cast towards the informants. Jim Sues, who is an officer of the New Jersey Chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, raised that possibility.
So far, it was revealed that not only were they paid, the informants were illegal immigrants. On top of that, they already had criminal records. Most of the information used by prosecutors came from those informants. This could be ammunition that can be used by the defense.
Prosecutors seemed to have compared the five men’s plan to the Mumbai, Massacre which was orchestrated by a group calling itself the Deccan Mujuhideen. The Mumbai Massacre was an attack that had caught spy agencies off guard. In the case of this conspiracy, the attack would be aimed at United States servicemen. In the case of Mumbai, the Deccan Mujahideen targeted five-star hotels that boarded foreigners.
There brings this question: Will the conviction stand or will it get appealed? The sentencing is set for April. There is much that can be done between now and April. Also, there is the issue of the records of the paid informants.
