“A Canadian man was sentenced to 40 years in federal prison….for plotting to attack Times Square in New York and the city’s subway. U.S. prosecutors had asked for life in prison, while the defence argued Abdulrahman El Bahnasawy should only receive four or five years and get treatment for mental health and drug addiction problems.” After the Judge handed down the sentence, this was the reaction:
El Bahnasawy’s mother stood up and shouted in protest, “This is a sick boy! This is crazy. You have no justice,” before being ushered out of the courtroom.
His mother was proclaiming her boy’s mental illness throughout the case. By Western standards of “mental illness,” in fact, all jihadists are “mentally ill.” They are warped, obsessed, and sadistic; some even have resorted cannibalism. This is not to say that there are no mentally ill jihadis. In fact, promises of Paradise for waging violent jihad, and Islam’s proclamations of supremacy, may well be attractive to some people who are struggling with rage, psychosis and identity problems.
Deception is a also a common practice among Islamic supremacists. The Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, Ahmed el-Tayyeb, among many others, has claimed that the unjust policies of the West were the cause of jihad terror. The widely respected el-Tayyeb spoke consistently with this after the U.S. Embassy’s move to Jerusalem, saying that because of the decision, the East and West would drown in a sea of blood. If jihadists do not get their way vis-a-vis infidels and apostates, they lie and/or get violent. If they get their way, they grow even more emboldened and violent.
Working from the same playbook as that of el-Tayyeb, back in March, El Bahnasawy pleaded for a second chance, saying that frustration with how the West treated Islam had turned him to jihad.
“Canadian convicted of terrorism in U.S. gets 40 years in prison,” CBC, December 19, 2018:
A Canadian man was sentenced to 40 years in federal prison on Wednesday for plotting to attack Times Square in New York and the city’s subway.
U.S. prosecutors had asked for life in prison, while the defence argued Abdulrahman El Bahnasawy should only receive four or five years and get treatment for mental health and drug addiction problems.
El Bahnasawy, 20, of Mississauga, Ont., pleaded guilty in October 2016 to conspiring with ISIS operatives to commit terrorist acts, which included failed plans to bomb Times Square and the city’s subway system, and to carry out mass shootings of civilians at concerts.
Judge Richard Berman said the sentence “was appropriate and necessary because of the serious and heinous nature of the offence.”
Berman said he had taken El Bahnasawy’s problems into account and wished him “the best of luck in his recovery,” but noted the chance of a relapse.
“We just don’t know, and in these matters there is no room for error.”
El Bahnasawy’s mother stood up and shouted in protest, “This is a sick boy! This is crazy. You have no justice,” before being ushered out of the courtroom.
El Bahnasawy’s lawyer, Dennis Edney, said the young man had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, experienced psychotic episodes and has been addicted to drugs since age 14.
Edney told CBC News the FBI was aware of his history because it was provided to him by the RCMP, which “unlawfully obtained” his client’s medical records.
“This information contradicts the FBI’s portrait of my client as a terrorist. Instead, he is a mentally ill youth who has attempted suicide on three occasions while incarcerated.”
Edney said the FBI entrapped El Bahnasawy.
“Today is not only a disgrace, it’s very sad, particularly for a young, 20-year-old who’ll spend 40 years in horrible conditions in an American prison.”
El Bahnasawy’s parents had repeatedly said their son’s history of mental health and drug addiction made him susceptible to radicalization — first by ISIS recruiters, and then by the intelligence agents who were tracking him.
El Bahnasawy was 18 when he was arrested in New Jersey on a family trip. He had shipped bomb-making materials to a contact in the U.S. who turned out to be an undercover FBI agent. The agent had been communicating electronically with El Bahnasawy and two others in the months leading up to the failed attack…..