An American was sentenced on Monday to 53 years in prison for organizing a bomb attack on a mosque in August 2017, which did not claim any victims.
Emily Claire Hari, 50, who was previously known as Michael Hari and recently announced she was transgender, was convicted of the attack on the Muslim center in Bloomington, Minnesota, after a trial in December 2020.
An extremist group
A federal judge sentenced her to 53 years in prison on Monday after hearing testimonies from Muslims who said they were still traumatized by the explosion during morning prayers. “Hari sought to terrorize an entire religious community, the sentence adopted clearly shows that such acts of hatred will not be tolerated,” Deputy Minister of Justice Lisa Monaco said in a statement.
The former sheriff was the head of an extremist group known as the “White Rabbits” and had recruited two men to attack the mosque. On August 5, 2017, they threw a homemade bomb in the imam’s office. Several worshipers were there, but none had been injured. The fire had caused “significant damage”, according to the Ministry of Justice. The three attackers fled and were arrested after several months of investigation.