A Pennsylvania woman, who referred to herself as “Jihad Jane,” was sentenced to 10 years in prison on Monday for plotting to kill a Swedish artist. Colleen LaRose, who adopted the “Jihad Jane” online moniker, told the judge, the Associated Press reports, that “she once had thought about jihad from morning to night, saying she was ‘in a trance.’” “I don’t want to be into jihad no more,” she told the judge.
Investigators say that in 2009 LaRose was recruited on jihadist websites to take part in a plot targeting Swedish artist Lars Vilks for a series of drawings that depicted the Muslim prophet Mohammed as a dog. LaRose joined the man who recruited her, and another woman, in Ireland, but left the terror cell after six weeks because she “grew frustrated because her co-conspirators were not ready for action,” according to US Attorney Jennifer Arbittier Williams. LaRose returned to the US later that year to surrender to authorities, the AP reports, and was one of the few women to be charged with terrorist activities in the US.
LaRose faced a life sentence, but prosecutors requested a reduced term because of her cooperation with authorities. Prosecutors said that while LaRose remains dangerous, her involvement in the terrorist plot was the action of a “‘lonely and isolated’ woman who sought excitement by joining the jihadist cause. She was flattered to get an assignment to kill a foe of Islam,” according to the AP.
