Sentencing Of Kenyan Convicted Of Planning 9/11 Style Terror Attack The US Postponed
The trial of Cholo Abdi Abdullah, a Kenyan man guilty of plotting a 9/11-style attack in the United States, has been rescheduled for April 7, 2025, following his request for new lawyers.
Abdullah was found guilty of participating in a scheme to hijack a commercial aircraft and crash it into a skyscraper in the US.
However, the plot never came to fruition after his arrest in the Philippines in July 2019.
Abdullah appeared before Judge Analisa Torres on Monday, asking for new lawyers after defending himself in the previous trial.
He also declined the judge’s offer of standby counsel, citing a desire to start fresh.
“I don’t want these two lawyers to represent me. I want to start fresh,” Abdullah said as quoted by ABC News, a global media company based in the US.
The sentencing of Cholo Abdi Abdullah, a Kenyan national who was convicted of plotting a 9/11-style attack on the United States, was adjourned Monday after he asked for new lawyers. https://t.co/vcheHfL9Py
— ABC News (@ABC) March 24, 2025
Following his request, the judge adjourned the trial and declared that she would appoint new counsel for the defendant.
Abdullah, 34, was scheduled to be sentenced after being found guilty on six counts, including conspiring to offer material support to a foreign terrorist organisation and giving the supplies.
In addition, they planned to assassinate US citizens, conspire to commit aviation piracy, destroy aircraft, and commit acts of terrorism.
State prosecutors urge the judge to imprison Abdullah for life, citing his threat to innocent lives around the world.
According to court documents, Abdullah intended to replicate al Qaeda’s September 11, 2001 terrorist strike.
The FBI says Cholo Abdi Abdullah, an al Qaeda-inspired terrorist, was attending flight school, planning to come to the U.S. to fly a plane into a skyscraper. @PeteWilliamsNBC reports. pic.twitter.com/UoQxS0Id5b
— TODAY (@TODAYshow) December 17, 2020
He learned to use AK-47 assault rifles and lethal bombs under the guidance of the al Shabaab in Somalia.
The felon then traveled to the Philippines and enrolled at a flying school, where he earned his private pilot’s license.
He was about to receive his commercial pilot’s license when police learned of the plot and arrested him.
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At the same time, prosecutors stated that while Abdullah was in the Philippines, his friends carried out the DusitD2 complex attack in Nairobi, which killed at least 21 people.
“I commend the tireless work of our federal law enforcement partners and the career national security prosecutors of this Office,” US Attorney Damian Williams stated in November last year.
“This effort has been carried forward by generations of agents and prosecutors who never relented in their efforts to bring Abdullah to justice and keep this nation safe,” added Williams.
“Thanks to their work and today’s verdict, Abdullah will now serve a lengthy sentence in federal prison.”
Sentencing Of Kenyan Convicted Of Planning 9/11 Style Terror Attack The US Postponed
