Jury convicts Illinois man in Minnesota mosque bombing
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A jury on Wednesday convicted the leader of an Illinois anti-government militia group of several civil rights and hate crime charges in the 2017 bombing of a Minnesota mosque.
Prosecutors outlined 49-year-old Michael Hari's hatred for Muslims as his motivation for the bombing during the trial, citing anti-Islam excerpts from Hari's manifesto known as The White Rabbit Handbook, named after his militia group. Prosecutors presented evidence to jurors that included phone records and testimony of federal investigators who tracked Hari down to Clarence, Illinois, a rural community about 120 miles (190 kilometers) south of Chicago where Hari and two co-defendants lived after a seven-month investigation.
The bombing took place on Aug. 5, 2017, when the pipe bomb exploded in the imam’s office as worshippers gathered for early morning prayers. No one was hurt in the explosion, though community members where shaken by the incident and the mosque’s executive director testified last month that it has led to diminished attendance due to fear.
Local faith leaders gathered in front of the federal courthouse building in St. Paul and thanked prosecutors and the jury during a press conference after the verdict was delivered. Abdulahi Farah, a program director at Dar Al-Farooq, said the mosque's sense of community was “shattered” after the attack, but the guilty verdict sends a “strong message” to their congregants and other Muslim communities across the state.
Read more: https://kdhnews.com/news/nation/jury-convicts-illinois-man-in-minnesota-mosque-bombing/article_dac5fceb-b284-59ff-8bdb-42011944e538.html
(Killeen Daily Herald)
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