Kareem Ibrahim, an Imam, will have to communicate to the person up above, behind bars, for the rest of his life.
Brooklyn U.S. District Judge Dora L. Irizarry on Friday sentenced Ibrahim to life in prison for conspiring to commit a terrorist attack at John F. Kennedy International Airport in Queens by being part of a plot to explode fuel tanks and the fuel pipeline under the airport.
Authorities said Friday that Ibrahim and his coconspirators believed the attack would cause extensive damage to the airport and to the New York economy, as well as the loss of numerous lives.
“This case shows the government at its best in terms of protecting the security of this country,” Judge Irizarry said.
Ibrahim was convicted of multiple terrorism offenses in May 2011 after a four-week trial.
The evidence at trial established that Ibrahim, an Imam and leader of the Shiite Muslim community in Trinidad & Tobago, provided religious instruction and operational support to a group plotting to commit a terrorist attack at JFK Airport.
The plot originated with Russell Defreitas, a naturalized United States citizen from Guyana, who drew on his prior experience working at JFK Airport as a cargo handler to plan the attack on its fuel tanks and fuel pipeline, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a press release.
During cross-examination at trial, Ibrahim admitted that he advised the plotters to present a plot to revolutionary leaders in Iran and to use operatives ready to engage in suicide attacks at the airport.
Authorities recorded a conversation that had Ibrahim telling Defreitas that the attackers must be ready to “fight it out, kill who you could kill and go back to Allah.”
Russell Defreitas and Abdul Kadir were convicted of terrorism charges and sentenced to life in prison.
