Close to 50 people gathered recently outside Portland City
Hall for a "Peace and Unity" rally sparked by the recent
arrest of 19 year old Mohamed Osman Mohamud, a Somali-born
U.S. citizen, who police said attempted to set off a bomb
at a local Christmas-tree lighting ceremony.
Speakers
maintained that the youth’s involvement in a fake bomb
plot at Pioneer Courthouse Square reflected local Somali
youths' need for support.
"We are gathered here in the cold rain because we care
about our Somali community,” said City Commissioner Amanda
Fritz, “and it takes all of us to keep us all safe… We
also recognize that due process will be had and we will be
stronger together because of this challenge."
Bashir Warsame, head of the Somali Community Services
Coalition in SW Portland, said: "All Somali people are sad
and I believe we want to show this as well as show that we
want to increase support for our troubled youth."
Muna Obshir Mohamud of the Portland Office of Human
Relations added: “"Islamaphobia is very real and we all
hope that it will not be re-ignited… It may be too late
for this Mohamud, but there are many, many Mohamuds out
there. We need to make sure these Muslim men have our
support."
The accused teenager, a college student who lived in
Beaverton, Oregon, this week pleaded not guilty to charges
of terrorism. Defense attorneys say their client was
"groomed" by the FBI who provided a van and the fake
explosives that were supposed to terrorize the crowds at
the tree lighting.
Officials say they didn't direct the plot, Mohamud did.
He not only chose the venue for the attack, they said, but
shrugged off attempts to derail the plot when it was under
way.
But civil liberties advocates respond that these sting
operations, particularly since the attacks of Sept. 11,
2001, have ended up focusing on people who pose no real
danger but are susceptible to being lured into pretend
plots by law enforcement officials. At
At this week’s court appearance, lead attorney Stephen
Sady told the court that “quite sophisticated” government
agents were “basically grooming the individual.” He called
the arrest “obviously timed for maximum impact and maximum
publicity.
Mohamud was indicted on a charge of attempting to use a
weapon of mass destruction. A conviction would result in a
maximum sentence of life in prison.
Source: blackvoicenews
