The man's brother said the suspect loves the United States.

The man's brother said the suspect loves the United States.
COLUMBUS (AP) -- Like thousands of fellow Somalis leaving behind brutal clan warfare, Nuradin Abdi settled in this city known for relatively mild weather, plentiful jobs and, in recent years, an abundance of shopping malls.
Just months after the government granted Abdi asylum, however, federal authorities say he was plotting to blow up one of those malls, exactly the type of target some feared would be next on terrorists' lists.
Attorney General John Ashcroft said charges revealed Monday against Abdi serve as a reminder that Al-Qaida is determined "to hit the United States and hit us hard."
Abdi is accused of conspiring with convicted Al-Qaida operative Iyman Faris -- a former Columbus truck driver who sought to sabotage the Brooklyn Bridge -- and others to bomb an unidentified mall in the area.
Arrested
Abdi, 32, was arrested at his apartment Nov. 28, the day after Thanksgiving when malls across America were crowded with shoppers. He was held at first on immigration violations, authorities said.
Charges in the four-count indictment handed up Thursday include providing material support to Al-Qaida, conspiracy to provide material support and document fraud. If convicted on all charges, Abdi could be sentenced to up to 80 years in prison and fined $1 million.
The FBI has warned Al-Qaida might shift away from trying to hit tightly guarded installations, such as government buildings or nuclear plants, to more vulnerable targets such as malls, apartment buildings or hotels.
FBI officials and prosecutors in Ohio said no specific mall was targeted and that there was a presumption that a Columbus-area mall was targeted because that is where Abdi is from.
Court papers filed by the government allege that a plot dated to March 2000 when Abdi returned from a terrorist training camp in Ethiopia to join Faris in Columbus.
Family responds
Abdi, who operated a small cell-phone business, loved the freedom of the United States and never spoke out against the U.S. government, said his brother Mohamed AbdiKarani, 17. Abdi has a young son and daughter, and his wife is pregnant.
"He really hated terrorists," AbdiKarani said. "He loved it here. He said it's good to raise his kids here."
Columbus is home to more than 30,000 Somalis, the second-largest Somali community in the United States, after Minneapolis.
Abdi left Somalia when he was 4 and grew up mainly in the United Arab Emirates, his mother, Nadifa Hassan, said.
AbdiKarani said Abdi was friends with Faris because they attended the same mosque.
Faris, originally from Kashmir, is serving a 20-year sentence after pleading guilty last June to plotting to sever cables supporting the Brooklyn Bridge and to derail trains in New York or Washington. Neither of those plots came to fruition.
In court
Abdi, his feet and hands shackled, appeared distracted during a hearing Monday before federal magistrate Mark Abel. He alternately twisted around in his chair and smiled at spectators and U.S. marshals, then stared at the table in front of him. He placed his forehead on the table as Abel read him his rights.
Abdi's wife and mother told The Columbus Dispatch that when they visited him at the Pickaway County jail on May 21, he appeared disoriented and his face was so swollen his eyes were shut.
During the visit, about 15 guards piled onto Abdi and knocked him to the floor, said his wife, Safia Muse.
"It was scary," she said. "His face was squished to the concrete. I asked to speak to him, but they pushed us out of the room."
Lt. Michael Pearch, who oversees the jail, denied abuse and declined to talk about Abdi, who was at the jail until several days ago.
Allegations
According to U.S. immigration records, Abdi first entered the United States in 1995, lived in Ontario, Canada, and then returned to the United States in 1997.
The government charges that he received asylum as a refugee in 1999 after giving false information to immigration officials.
Later that year, investigators said he used that status to apply for a travel document by falsely claiming he was planning to visit Germany and the Muslim holy city of Mecca, Saudi Arabia.
Prosecutors say Abdi went to Ogaden, Ethiopia, to obtain "military-style training in preparation for violent jihad." The training included guns, guerrilla warfare, bombs and radio usage.
One co-conspirator not in U.S. custody provided money for the trip, the indictment says. Officials said one of the unidentified co-conspirators provided Abdi with bombmaking instruction.
That area of Ethiopia is known as a remote and lawless region that shares a highly porous border with Somalia. It is believed that the Al-Ittihad Al-Islami terror network, which is affiliated with Al-Qaida and is fighting the Ethiopian government, operates on both sides of the border in that area.
Reactions
An employee of a cell phone kiosk at the Polaris Fashion Place mall, which opened in 2001, said the news of the charges was unsettling.
"It's uncomfortable to know something like that could happen," said Amin Parabtani, 23, of Columbus. "Even after three years of the government telling us we're safer today, we're not."
Jamilla Hassan, 39, a cousin of Abdi's, said she hopes the charges are a mistake.
Abdi was like any immigrant who escaped the clan-based war in Somalia looking for a better life, Hassan said.
"He was another good American," she said.