by Fat Lady Singing » Tue Apr 18, 2006 3:13 pm
It seems to me that many people arrested in connection with terrorism who have been in American custody for long periods of time have become mentally ill, whether or not they were before they were taken.<br><br>Anyone remember Nuradin Abdi, the Somali business owner in Columbus, Ohio who supposedly plotted to blow up a shopping mall? This was in 2004. He was alleged to have colluded with truck driver/self-confessed Al-Qaeda member Iyman Faris, who was also supposedly going to blow up the Brooklyn Bridge.<br><br>Abdi's case is a sad one; last I looked into it, several months after his arrest, a local TV news station said this (sorry, the link's too old to be valid anymore):<br><br><!--EZCODE QUOTE START--><blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr>A man accused of plotting to blow up a shopping mall has been transferred to a federal prison medical center for a court-ordered competency evaluation.<br><br>The U.S. Marshals Service flew Nuradin Abdi and three other prisoners on Thursday from Port Columbus International Airport. Abdi was taken to the Federal Medical Center in Rochester, Minn., one of six medical facilities for males operated by the U.S. Bureau of Prisons.<br><br>A federal magistrate last week ordered a psychological evaluation to determine if Abdi is able to stand trial. Abdi, a 32-year-old Somali refugee, put his face to the glass-covered table, muttered to himself and stared vacantly at relatives during the hearing.<br><br>Authorities accuse Abdi of plotting with admitted al-Qaida member Iyman Faris to blow up an undetermined mall. He was indicted earlier this month on charges including providing material support to al-Qaida, conspiracy and lying to gain political asylum in the United States. If convicted, he could get up to 80 years in prison.<hr></blockquote><!--EZCODE QUOTE END--><br><br>Here's an editorial article about the case, again from 2004:<br><br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0621-01.htm">www.commondreams.org/views04/0621-01.htm</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br><br>Maybe I'll do a little googling in my spare time to see how or if the case has progressed.<br><br>However, knowing Columbus as I do, I can easily see how this poor guy got swept into this stuff. There's a section of town where many Somali immigrants live and work, and at that time, in the heart of this section, there was a decrepit old shopping mall, Northland, which had been abandoned by its tennants.<br><br>There was a lot of talk about what to do with it--should it be bulldozed and made into residential space? Renovated into more retail and office spaces? Etc. I can just imagine some FBI dude thinking he was overhearing something sensational, when Abdi was discussing the neighborhood's problem with someone. What if Abdi said to a friend, "you know, they should just blow up the place"? Officials never revealed which shopping mall was threatened...maybe not because it would scare away consumers but because they knew if they did it would make their case look very flimsy indeed.<br><br>This is, of course, mere conjecture. I have no direct knowledge of anyone involved in the case--just what I've read.<br><br>At any rate, whether or not the guy was a terrorist, he's now nuts, whereas he was not before (or at least he was sane enough to run a business). <p></p><i></i>
