FEDERAL COURT Man in mall plot case to have mental tests

The Somali was first held in November on immigration charges.
COLUMBUS (AP) -- A Somali national pressed his face onto a courtroom's glass-covered tabletop, jerked his head randomly and muttered as his attorney successfully sought a psychological evaluation before he's tried on federal accusations that he plotted to blow up a shopping mall.
Hundreds of Nuradin Abdi's supporters gathered Wednesday to proclaim his innocence at the courthouse where Magistrate Mark Abel ordered Abdi transferred to a federal psychiatric facility for testing and treatment that could take up to three months.
Abel found that Abdi's behavior in jail and his attorney's difficulties communicating with him made an evaluation necessary because he might not understand the charges against him and might not be able to help defend himself.
Big band music played in the courtroom as Abel talked with attorneys about Abdi's behavior, and Abel sealed that part of the transcript.
"The government took a healthy man, and what we have here is a broken man, mentally," his lawyer, Mahir Sherif, told Abel.
Charges
Authorities have accused Abdi, 32, of plotting the attack on an undetermined mall with admitted Al-Qaida member Iyman Faris, who is now imprisoned for never-acted-on plans to sabotage the Brooklyn Bridge.
After being helped to a chair, Abdi slammed his face to the glass-covered table and kept it there for a few minutes. During the proceedings, he looked around, smiled at no one in particular, and put his head back on the table.
Abdi also kicked the table, jangled his wrist and ankle shackles and kept pushing his chair back from the table. Toward the end of the hearing, he started muttering.
"The government took a healthy man, and what we have here is a broken man, mentally," Sherif said.
Abdi, who operated a small cell phone business, was arrested last November at his apartment, just after Thanksgiving when malls across America were crowded with shoppers. He was held at first on immigration violations, authorities said.
Many said they were disturbed to see Abdi's shuffling gait and distracted behavior.
Abdi is charged with providing material support to al-Qaida, conspiracy and document fraud. If convicted, he could get up to 80 years in prison.