PHILADELPHIA (AP) — An al-Qaida suspect linked to a plot to kill a Swedish cartoonist has been sentenced to 15 years in federal prison.
Ali Charaf Damache was sentenced in federal court in Philadelphia Tuesday after pleading guilty in July to one count of conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists. He had been extradited from Spain last year.
The 53-year-old Algerian man, whose online handle was Theblackflag, was accused of being involved in a terror cell that wanted to kill a cartoonist who depicted the Prophet Muhammad as a dog.
The plot never materialized.
Prosecutors said Damache, from Ireland, sought to recruit light-skinned women and others who did not fit the traditional terrorist profile to wage jihad. His targets included Colleen LaRose, a Pennsylvania woman who calls herself "Jihad Jane."
