Web Desk:
A court has sentenced the transgender woman, who led a militia called The White Rabbits, to 53 years in prison for bombing a Minnesota mosque in 2017, the Justice Department announced.
Emily Claire Hari, 50, was found guilty in December, after a five-week trial, on five federal charges related to the pipe bombing of the Dar-al-Farooq Islamic Centre in Bloomington, Minnesota, while worshipers were in the building for morning prayers. No one was hurt in the bombing.
“Emily Claire Hari, 50, formerly known as Michael Hari, was sentenced to life in prison for the Aug 5, 2017, bombing of the Dar al-Farooq (DAF) Islamic Centre in Bloomington, Minnesota”, the US Department of Justice said in a statement.
It said that Hari, who at the time identified as a man, Michael Hari, organized a “terrorist militia group” named The White Rabbits in Clarence, Illinois. Hari recruited two men, Michael McWhorter and Joe Morris, into the group, and on August 5, they attacked the Dar al-Farooq Islamic Center (DAF) in Bloomington, Minnesota, around 500 miles away.
In the early morning hours, as some people were gathering at the mosque for prayers, they broke a window and threw containers of volatile fuel and a pipe bomb inside, which exploded, causing heavy damage.
“Hari targeted DAF specifically to terrorize Muslims into believing they are not welcome in the United States and should leave the country,” the department said.
“Hari sought to terrorize an entire faith community. Today’s sentence makes clear that such acts of hate-fuelled terror will not be tolerated,” said Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco in a statement.
In January 2019, McWhorter and Morris pleaded guilty to the bombing, while Hari fought the case at trial. Hari’s two accomplices have not yet been sentenced.
