Ohio Shopping Mall Terror Suspect To Plead Guilty

A Somali immigrant has tentatively agreed to plead guilty to plotting with a convicted al-Qaida terrorist to blow up a shopping mall the day after Thanksgiving 2003, law enforcement officials said Tuesday.

Nuradin Abdi, 35, was due in federal court in Columbus, Ohio, to enter his plea, according to the two officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because the appearance had not yet happened.

Abdi was expected to plead guilty to conspiring to provide material support to terrorists, an admission coming a week before the expected Aug. 6 start of his trial.

Abdi’s attorney, Mahir Sherif, confirmed the last-minute hearing before U.S. District Judge Algenon Marbley to discuss a possible plea.

“If it works out, then he’ll plead,” Sherif said. He would not give details or comment further.

The Justice Department accused Abdi of suggesting the plan to attack an unidentified Columbus mall during an August 2002 coffee shop meeting with now-convicted terrorist Iyman Faris and a third suspect, Christopher Paul. Faris is serving 20 years in a maximum-security federal prison in Florence, Colo., for his role in an al-Qaida plot to destroy the Brooklyn Bridge. Faris scouted the bridge and told al-Qaida its plans wouldn’t work, court papers have said.

Federal agents arrested Abdi the morning of Nov. 28, 2003, the day after Thanksgiving, out of fear the attack would be carried out on the heavy shopping day. He was arrested at 6 a.m. while leaving his home for morning prayers.

Prosecutors say Abdi gave stolen credit card numbers to a man accused of buying gear for al-Qaida, and lied on immigration documents to visit a jihadist training camp.

Abdi’s attorneys said he was merely upset at the war in Afghanistan and reports of civilians killed in bombings by the U.S.-led invasion. They have said the stolen numbers were never used and the Justice Department never alleged what organization they believed was running the camp, what Abdi intended to do with the training, or whether he ever actually went.

Prosecutors accused Paul, who was arrested in April, of joining al-Qaida and plotting to bomb European tourist resorts and U.S. government facilities and military bases overseas.