(MOBILE, Ala.) The court-appointed defense attorney of Mobile terror suspect Randy “Rasheed” Wilson said his client could be considered a “hero” for preventing a terrorist attack on U.S. soil.
According to the affidavit by an FBI terrorism task force agent, Wilson’s alleged co-conspirator Mohammad Abukhdair grew impatient with the time it was taking to get overseas and become jihadi fighters, and proposed a deadly hostage attack in the United States.
Abukhdair allegedly wanted to buy six guns, take hostages, kill them if the government refused to negotiate the release of convicted terrorist “The Blind Sheikh” Omar Abdel-Rahman. Abukhdair also proposed driving a car full of explosives into a building, according to the affidavit.
Wilson “did not like Abukhdair’s proposal” and “continued to tell Abukhdair to be patient.”
“If you believe the affifavit, [Wilson is] actually a hero,” defense attorney Dom Soto said. “If the other guy is fomenting some sort of violence, he’s the one who actually says ‘No, no, don’t do that here.’”
Soto was appointed as Wilson’s attorney in the terror suspect’s first appearance, when it was found Wilson was financially indigent and could not afford his own counsel. Soto said he had just begun sorting through the evidence.
“There’s supposedly 40 to 100 hours worth of undercover tapes,” Soto said.
Soto said some of the language his client used on the tapes does not necessarily point to terrorism.
“A lot of the terms are open to interpretation,” Soto said. “Jihad being one of those.”
Soto also questioned the credibility of the FBI’s undercover sources and informants during the one and a half year case.
“There’s two or three third parties here who have axes to grind and things to sell,” Soto said.
Wilson has a detention hearing Monday, but Soto hinted that it’s unlikely his client will be released or have a bond amount set.
“It’ll be a quick hearing,” Soto said.
Wilson was arrested at a bus terminal in Augusta, Georgia this week. Investigators allege he planned on traveling to Mauritania to be in “close proximity to a jihadi conflict.” A one-time roommate of FBI Most Wanted Terrorist Omar Hammami, Wilson was allegedly considering crossing into Somalia and joining his Al-Qaeda-linked fighter group
