Man convicted of plotting 9/11-style attack asks for new lawyers at sentencing
The sentencing of Cholo Abdi Abdullah, a Kenyan national who was convicted of plotting a 9/11-style attack on the United States, was adjourned Monday after he asked for new lawyers.
"I was thinking of having new lawyers who will represent me," said Abdullah, who represented himself during the trial last year that ended with him being convicted on all six federal counts.
The judge had appointed standby counsel but Abdullah said he did not want them to represent him at sentencing.
MORE: Al-Shabaab operative plotted 9/11-style attack: Prosecutors
"I don't want these two lawyers to represent me. I want to start fresh," said Abdullah, who appeared in a wrinkled beige jail smock over a bright orange T-shirt and spoke slowly and softly in response to several of the judge's questions.
Judge Analisa Torres closed the courtroom for a private conference with Abdullah. When court resumed, Torres announced she would appoint new counsel and adjourn sentencing to April 7.
Federal prosecutors have asked the court to imprison Abdullah for life.
"The defendant's terrorism crimes, combined with his specialized, al-Shabaab financed pilot skills, which he will have for the rest of his life, underscore that he poses a real and ongoing threat to innocent lives around the world. He remains a skillful, well-educated, and highly trained terrorist who is readily capable of hijacking a commercial aircraft to commit a terrorist act," federal prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memorandum. "Law enforcement thwarted the defendant's plot shortly before he obtained his commercial pilot's license -- inches away from bringing his murderous plans to fruition."
Abdullah wanted to fly a plane into the "tallest buildings" in Atlanta, including the 55-story Bank of America Plaza, on behalf of the terror group al-Shabab, federal prosecutors said.
As federal prosecutors described it, Abdullah sought to "carry out a chilling plot to hijack a commercial airplane, crash it into a building in the United States, and recreate al Qaeda's horrific September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks."
He first trained with al-Shabaab for months in Somalia, learning to fire AK-47 assault rifles and make deadly explosives, prosecutors said. Then, he enrolled in a flight school in the Philippines and devoted hundreds of hours earning the flight certifications necessary to fly large commercial aircraft, prosecutors said.
"All told, the defendant secured his private pilot's license and came terrifyingly close to getting his commercial pilot's license just before he was arrested," prosecutors said.
MORE: Abbey Gate terror suspect charged and extradited to the US
Abdullah joined Al-Shabaab in 2015 after becoming more religious and listening to the teachings of Anwar al-Awlaki. Facebook messages show regular communication between group members regarding training, prayers, planning attacks, getting money and plans for Abdullah to attend flight school, prosecutors said.
After living in a safe house and receiving training for three months, Abdullah was sent to flight school in the Philippines. While he was away, some members of his safe house carried out a bombing and shooting at the DusitD2 complex in Nairobi, Kenya, according to federal prosecutors.
Abdullah was arrested by officials in the Philippines in July 2019. During his interrogation, he said he told his mother he had joined Al-Shabaab and that she alerted authorities, prosecutors said. Abdullah cooperated with the FBI, providing details of who was communicating with, how he was trained and other information.
Man convicted of plotting 9/11-style attack asks for new lawyers at sentencing originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
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Gangster tells BBC why India's biggest hip-hop star was murdered
It was a killing that shocked India: Punjabi hip-hop star Sidhu Moose Wala shot dead through the windscreen of his car by hired gunmen. Within hours, a Punjabi gangster named Goldy Brar had used Facebook to claim responsibility for ordering the hit. But three years after the murder, no-one has faced trial - and Goldy Brar is still on the run, his whereabouts unknown. Now, BBC Eye has managed to make contact with Brar and challenged him about how and why Sidhu Moose Wala became a target. His response was coldly articulate. "In his arrogance, he [Moose Wala] made some mistakes that could not be forgiven," Brar told the BBC World Service. "We had no option but to kill him. He had to face the consequences of his actions. It was either him or us. As simple as that." On a warm May evening in 2022, Sidhu Moose Wala was taking his black Mahindra Thar SUV for its usual spin through dusty lanes near his village in the northern Indian state of Punjab when, within minutes, two cars began tailing him. CCTV footage later showed them weaving through narrow turns, sticking close. Then, at a bend in the road, one of the vehicles lurched forward, cornering Moose Wala's SUV against a wall. He was trapped. Moments later, the shooting began. Mobile footage captured the aftermath. His SUV was riddled with bullets, the windscreen shattered, the bonnet punctured. In trembling voices, bystanders expressed their shock and concern. "Someone get him out of the car." "Get some water." "Moose Wala has been shot." But it was too late. He was declared dead on arrival at hospital - hit by 24 bullets, a post-mortem would later reveal. The 28-year-old rapper, one of modern-day Punjab's biggest cultural icons, had been gunned down in broad daylight. 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But it was there, far from his village of Moosa - the inspiration for his rap name - that he reinvented himself as one of Punjabi music's most influential artists. In just five years, Moose Wala became the unmistakable voice of Punjabi hip-hop. With his signature swagger, flashy style, and lyrical grit, Moose Wala sang openly about identity and politics, guns and revenge, pushing the boundaries of what Punjabi music had been willing to say. He was fascinated by rapper Tupac Shakur, who had been murdered, aged 25, in 1996. "In terms of personality, I want to be like him," Moose Wala once told an interviewer. "The day he died, people cried for him. I want the same. When I die, people should remember that I was someone." Over a brief but explosive career, the singer spotlighted the darker undercurrents of India's Punjab region - gangster culture, unemployment, and political decay - while evoking a deep nostalgia for village life. Moose Wala was also a global force. With more than five billion views of his music videos on YouTube, a Top 5 spot in the UK charts, and collaborations with international hip-hop artists including Burna Boy, Moose Wala swiftly built a fan base stretching across India, Canada, the UK and beyond, powered by a diaspora that saw him as both icon and insurgent. But fame came at a cost. Despite his rising star and socially conscious lyrics, Moose Wala was drifting into dangerous territory. His defiant attitude, visibility, and growing influence had drawn the attention of Punjab's most feared gangsters. These included Goldy Brar, and Brar's friend Lawrence Bishnoi, who even then was in high-security jail in India. Not much is known about Brar, apart from the fact he is on the Interpol Red Notice list, and is a key operative in a network of gangsters operated by Bishnoi – orchestrating hits, issuing threats and amplifying the gang's reach. It is thought he emigrated to Canada in 2017, just a year after Moose Wala himself, and initially worked as a truck driver. Bishnoi, once a student leader steeped in Punjab's violent campus politics, has grown into one of India's most feared criminal masterminds. "The first [police] cases filed against Lawrence Bishnoi were all related to student politics and student elections… beating a rival student leader, kidnapping him, harming him," according to Jupinderjit Singh, deputy editor of Indian newspaper the Tribune. This led to a spell in jail which hardened him further, says Gurmeet Singh Chauhan, Assistant Inspector General of the Anti-Gangster Task Force of Punjab Police. "Once he was in jail, he started to get deeper into crime. Then he formed a group of his own. When it became an inter-gang thing, he needed money for survival. They need more manpower, they need more weapons. They need money for all that. So, for money, you have to get into extortion or crime." 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Brar repeatedly told us that Shaganpreet Singh had assisted the gunmen in the days before Middukhera's shooting - and inferred that Moose Wala himself must have been involved. "Everyone knew Sidhu's role, the police investigating knew, even the journalists who were investigating knew. Sidhu mixed with politicians and people in power. He was using political power, money, his resources to help our rivals," Brar told BBC Eye. "We wanted him to face punishment for what he'd done. He should have been booked. He should have been jailed. But nobody listened to our plea. "So we took it upon ourselves. When decency falls on deaf ears, it's the gunshot that gets heard." We put it to Brar that India has a judicial system and the rule of law - how could he justify taking the law into his own hands? "Law. Justice. There's no such thing," he says. "Only the powerful can... [obtain] justice, not ordinary people like us." 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