53-year sentence in mosque attack
ST. PAUL, Minn. — The leader of an Illinois antigovernment militia who authorities say masterminded the 2017 bombing of a Minnesota mosque was sentenced to 53 years in prison for an attack that terrified the community.
Emily Claire Hari, who was previously known as Michael Hari and recently said she is transgender, faced a mandatory minimum of 30 years for the attack on Dar al-Farooq Islamic Center in Bloomington. Defense attorneys asked for the minimum, but prosecutors sought life, saying Hari hasn’t taken responsibility for the attack.
No one was hurt in the 2017 bombing, but more than a dozen members of the mosque community gave victim impact statements Monday about the trauma it left behind. U.S. District Judge Donovan Frank said evidence clearly showed Hari’s intent was to “scare, intimidate and terrorize individuals of Muslim faith.“
Hari made a brief statement before she was sentenced, saying the victims who testified during Monday’s hearing have been through a “traumatic ordeal” and she wished them “God’s richest blessings.”
Hari was convicted in December on five counts, including damaging property because of its religious character and obstructing the free exercise of religious beliefs.
Members of the mosque asked the judge on Monday to impose a life sentence, describing their shock and terror at the attack. Some were afraid to pray there afterward and have not returned. Mothers were scared to bring their kids to the mosque, which also serves as a charter school and community center.
Several men were gathered at Dar al-Farooq for early morning prayers on Aug. 5, 2017, when a pipe bomb was thrown through the window of an imam’s office. A sevenmonth investigation led authorities to Clarence, Ill., about 120 miles south of Chicago, where Hari and co-defendants Michael McWhorter and Joe Morris lived.
Authorities say Hari, 50, led a group called the White Rabbits that included McWhorter, Morris and others and that Hari came up with the plan to attack the mosque. Prosecutors said at trial that she was motivated by hatred for Muslims, citing excerpts from Hari’s manifesto known as The White Rabbit Handbook.
McWhorter and Morris each pleaded guilty to five counts and testified against her. They are awaiting sentencing.