By AVRIL REGIS
After a year and a half of professing innocence, an Algerian immigrant pleaded guilty on Tuesday to terrorism charges in Manhattan Supreme Court in a rare instance of such a case being pursued on a state rather than a federal level.
Ahmed Ferhani, 27, confessed today that he and another Queens man plotted to attack synagogues and churches in Manhattan last year.
Ferhani’s plea change came as a shock to his mother who was present in the court room. Shortly before he entered Ferhani’s mother was heard proclaiming her son’s innocence to a reporter.
“His fiancé was a Christian, He was friends with Jews,” said the convicted terrorist’s mother, who was later seen crying when her son charged his plea.
Despite the prosecution’s request that Ferhani spend 14 years behind bars, Supreme Court Justice Michael Obus seemed poised to sentence him to the time suggested by Ferhani’s attorneys, air jordan 4.5 femmes 10 years in prison and five years post-release supervision. He would also most likely be deported back to his home country, court observers said.
Ferhani appeared in court in an orange prison jumpsuit, his head shaved and his expression stoical.
Ferhani and Mohamed Mamdouh were arrested in May 2011 after buying three handguns, ammunition and a grenade from an undercover officer.
“By targeting a synagogue … I intended to create chaos and send a message of intimidation and coercion to the Jewish population of New York City, warning them to stop mistreating Muslims,” said Ferhani, in a statement he prepared for court.
According to court documents, Ferhani planned on bombing synagogues by pretending to be a Jew, entering the synagogues, and leaving a bomb behind.
The two men were brought up terror charges and hate crime charges.
Ferhani was scheduled to be sentenced in January.
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