Wednesday, June 27, 2012
Texas jury convicts Saudi bomb plot suspect
AMARILLO, Texas (AP) — A Saudi man accused of buying chemicals online and attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction was found guilty today in federal court in Amarillo.
Khalid Ali-M Aldawsari, who was legally in the U.S. on a student visa, was arrested in February 2011 after federal agents secretly searched his apartment near Texas Tech University in Lubbock and found bomb-making chemicals, wiring, a hazmat suit and clocks.
Authorities also discovered Aldawsari’s journal, handwritten in Arabic, in which he wrote he’d been planning a terror attack in the U.S. for years and that it was “time for jihad,” or holy war, court documents show.
President Barack Obama was notified about the plot before Aldawsari’s arrest.
He faces up to life in prison. Sentencing is scheduled for Oct. 9 in Amarillo.
After the jury left the courtroom Wednesday, Aldawsari, 22, sat with his attorneys before being led off by U.S. Marshals. Prosecutors left the courtroom declined to comment.
His attorneys claimed that because Aldawsari didn’t have a bomb made or a target pinpointed, he couldn’t have attempted to use a bomb.