A federal appeals court tossed out a 12-year sentence Friday against a Pakistani teen who plotted to wage a holy war by blowing up an armory, electric substations and Jewish businesses.
The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals sent the case of Imran Mandhai back to U.S. District Judge William Dimitrouleas in Fort Lauderdale for resentencing. No new sentencing date has been set.
In a 15-page opinion, the court upheld especially harsh sentences in terrorism cases, but ruled that Mandhai had been improperly sentenced.
"We can and must keep our traditional democratic principles in place as we deal with terrorism and threat," Judges Stanley Birch, Phyllis Kravitch and Jerome Ferris wrote. They suggested that a sentence harsher than the 12 years already given would be "excessive."
At the time of his arrest in 2002, Mandhai was a 19-year-old computer science student at Broward Community College. He has been described as an al-Qaida "wannabe."
Mandhi and a friend admitted sharing their plans for jihad with FBI informants who infiltrated their mosque. The friend, Shueyb Mossa Jokhan, then 24, was recruited by Mandhai and suggested blowing up Mount Rushmore. He was sentenced to five years in prison.
No attacks were launched, and no weapons were obtained in the investigation, which pre-dated the Sept. 11 attacks. The two men were indicted months after the attacks.
The FBI used two informants and wiretaps to expose Mandhai's clumsy scheme to unleash anarchy on Broward and Miami-Dade counties. The plotters talked of creating chaos with a massive power blackout and then making demands to stop aid to Israel, free Muslims from U.S. jails and change U.S. policy on the Middle East.