(JTA) — An immigrant to the United States who plotted to blow up synagogues in New York City was sentenced to five years in jail.
Mohamed Mamdouh, a naturalized citizen from Morocco who pleaded guilty last year to conspiring to commit terrorism and criminal weapons possession, was an accomplice to Algerian immigrant Ahmed Ferhani, who last month was sentenced to 10 years in prison and is likely will be deported after his release.
Mamdouh was sentenced in New York State Supreme Court on April 26.
Ferhani and Mamdouh were arrested after they bought three firearms and what they believed was a live grenade from an undercover police detective. They reportedly had planned to disguise themselves as hasidic Jews in order to get into the synagogues.
They are the first people to be convicted under a state antiterrorism law passed following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
