In August 2005, four men were indicted in Orange County, Calif. for a terror plot described by FBI Assistant Director of Public Affairs John Miller as "the one that operationally was closest to actually occurring" since 9/11.
On Monday, 17 Aug 2009, US District Court Judge Cormac Carney completed the sentencing of the remaining terrorist of the J.I.S. (translated from Arabic as meaning "The Association of True Islam") California jihadist group. Santa Monica College student, Hammad Riaz Samana, 26, plotted terrorist bombings of the Los Angeles Airport, West L.A. synagogues during Jewish High Holidays, a US National Guard recruiting office, and the Israeli Consulate. Mr. Samana drove the armed robbery getaway car to steal to finance gang's terrorist actions.
He convinced the court that he had schizophrenia at the time. He was sentenced to just a fraction of his fellow collaborators' time, less than 2-years beyond time already served.
Aug 17: Santa Ana, CA - A man was sentenced to 70 months in prison today for his role in a domestic terrorism plot to wage war on the United States by attacking Jewish synagogues and military bases.
Hammad Riaz Samana is the fourth member of Jami'yyat Ul-Islam Is-Shaheeh, or JIS, a prison-founded group that wanted to make a political statement that also had plans to attack the Israeli consulate in Los Angeles and El Al Israel Airlines at the Los Angeles International Airport.
Samana was 21 when he was charged in the case in July 2005, along with the cell's mastermind, Kevin James, and members Levar Haley Washington and Gregory Patterson.
The group committed armed robberies of 11 gas stations, including two in Fullerton, to buy weapons and gear for the attacks. Authorities said gas stations were chosen as targets because of the symbolism of the oil.
Samana had a smaller role in the plot, and conducted computer research on the terrorism targets, and was the getaway driver for one of the armed robberies, according to U.S. District Judge Cormac Carney at today's sentencing hearing.
Carney acknowledged he was imposing a substantially lighter sentence on Samana than those given to the other men.
Washington is serving 264 months in prison, while James was sentenced to 192 months and Patterson was sentenced to 151 months, Carney said.
But Samana warranted a lighter sentence because he suffered from mental health issues, the judge said. Samana suffered from schizophrenia at the time of the crime.Democracy Broadcasting News reported in December 2007 that Mr. Samana worked at a Barnes & Noble bookstore, attended Santa Monica College, played cricket, and ran cross-country. He attended the same mosque in Inglewood (near Los Angeles Airport) as co-conspirators, Black American converts to Islam, Gregory Patterson (who is currently serving a sentence of 12.5 years in prison), and Levar Washington (currently serving a 22-year sentence). The organizer of the Muslim JIS group, Kevin James, 32, was sentenced in March to 16-years in federal prison.
Prologue: Prior to this Folsom Prison jihad case, the most prominent homegrown terror case chosen by the FBI since Septermber 11th, 2001, oddly, was an alleged plot by members of the Jewish Defense League. (There have been challenges to the credibility of US authorities' charges and prosecution of an alleged plot by leaders of the L.A. branch of the Jewish Defense League - and their subsequent deaths while in custody. Tibby Rothman resurrects the affair in the dubious dismissal of Mrs. Krugel's case against the prison managment in the The L.A. Weekly-published " Why was Jewish radical Earl Krugel slain in prison?" After it, JDL spokesperson Bill Maniaci commented:
Irv Rubin did not commit suicide...he was murdered with the complicity of the United States Government. On the morning of his murder, he was scheduled for a bail hearing and it was generally felt that bail would have been granted. Isn’t it strange that there were no guards present, no surveillance tapes and no witnesses when Irv supposedly cut his throat and threw himself over the tier?
Earl Krugel was a Jewish Activist and was a gentle man. Earl's assassination was also planned and his murderers knew he was coming before he arrived in Arizona. Irv and Earl held secrets, which if ever revealed, would cause shockwaves throughout federal law enforcement and the State Department. These men were framed, entrapped, and incarcerated to keep their mouths shut. Out of fear for the welfare of their families, they did keep quiet. There was however, always the possibility that they would reveal the information that terrorized those in power. They were silenced.
