Egyptian USF Student Gets 15 Years
One of the two University of South Florida students who were caught with pipe bombs near a South Carolina Navy base has been sentenced to 15 years.
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — An Egyptian student attending a Florida university was sentenced to 15 years in prison Thursday for making a YouTube video showing would-be terrorists how to turn a remote-control toy into a bomb detonator.
U.S. District Judge Steven D. Merryday said the public needed to be protected from 27-year-old Ahmed Abdellatif Sherif Mohamed, who made the video “to empower others through his teaching to deliver death, destruction and, at the very least, panic.” …
The video was found on a laptop computer in the car he was driving when pulled over near Charleston, S.C., in August 2007. Prosecutor Robert Monk said the 12-minute clip got nearly 800 hits before it was removed from the video-sharing site, but there was no evidence that anyone used it to do harm.
In the video, Mohamed demonstrates how to convert a remote-controlled car from Wal-Mart into a bomb detonator. He speaks in Arabic, saying he wants to teach “martyrdoms” and “suiciders” how to save themselves so they can continue to fight invaders, including U.S. soldiers.
“Instead of the brethren going to, to carry out martyrdom operations, no, may God bless him, he can use the explosion tools from a distance and preserve his life … for the real battles,” he says, according to a translation in the plea agreement.
Frank says: