Somewhat lost in all the chaos surrounding the midterm elections, followed by the day-after chaos of Trump firing AG Sessions, was the announcement on Tuesday of the conviction of Akayed Ullah, the Bangladeshi immigrant who has lived in NYC since 2011, for his failed bombing attempt last December in one of New York City’s busiest subway station passageways ending at Port Authority’s bus terminal.
According to a CBS News report the day after the attack, Monday, December 11, 2017, prosecutors said Akayed Ullah’s “path to radicalization began on-line three years [2014] ago while living here in the U.S.,” and that “on the day of the attack he posted on FaceBook a message to the president, “Trump you failed to protect your nation.”
“On Tuesday, Dec 12, the attorney for Manhattan announced five terror related charges for 27-year-old Akayed Ullah, including providing material support to a terrorist organization, the use of a weapon of mass destruction, and bombing a place of public use.”
Prosecutors alleged that Ullah was ‘inspired” by the Islamic State, a ‘group that exploits technology in an effort to spread a violent ideology.”
Ullah came to the US in 2011 on a family visa to join his family living in New York City, USA Today reported.
The bomb he strapped to his chest failed to fully explode resulting in Ullah being treated for “burns and cuts,” and that three by-standers “were treated for non-life threatening injuries.”
In the week-long trial, prosecutor and defense agreed Ullah committed the crime, but disagreed on whether or not he intended to harm others or only himself. The defense’s counsel, Amy Galliccio, said he was “troubled,” and “only wanted to kill himself to send a message about the American treatment of Muslims worldwide.”
“He wanted to die. He wanted to take his own life and only his life,” Gallicchio said. “This is not a suicide bombing. This is not a terrorist attack.”
The defense added that Ullah would have set the bomb off in a crowded subway car instead of an “isolated” part of the station if he wanted to harm others.
USA Today; Nov 6 2018
Via USA Today, “Newly released security video of a failed 2017 suicide bombing in the New York City subway system gives a fuller picture of the police response. (Nov. 6) AP”
Prosecutors during the trial disputed the defense’s claims, showing the jury the materials Ullah had been viewing on-line, alleging that was what, in part, led to him being radicalized, that he intended to “inflict maximum damage to terrorize Americans,” telling the jurors that, “at one point warned a law enforcement officer while in custody that “more is coming” and “to think who will come after me,” according the Associated Press.
A week later, Ullah began chanting “more is coming” to a guard at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in lower Manhattan, prosecutors said. They added that he then told the officer: “You started this war, we will finish it. More is coming, you’ll see.”
The statements were revealed in papers filed in Manhattan federal court as the government disputed a claim made last month by defense lawyers that the last of six counts in an indictment must be dismissed.
Associated Press; Nov 7 2018
Shawn Crowley, Assistant U.S. Attorney argued, “It was about martyrdom, not suicide.”
Ullah conviction carries a mandatory 30-year sentence in prison up to life. His sentencing date is set for April 5th.
The December Manhattan bombing occurred less than 6 weeks after the 2017 Halloween attack in Manhattan that killed 8 and injured 12 when a suspect Sayfullo Saipov drove a truck along a Hudson River bike path.
New York Times; Warning: Contains Graphic Images