By Ivan Pereira
Even faced with the likelihood that he will never spend the rest of his days outside a prison wall, Flushing terrorist Zarein Ahmedzay did not hold back the anti-Semitic hatred that drove him to join Al Qaeda.
While pleading guilty Friday in Brooklyn federal court to plotting an attack on the city’s subway system, the 25-year-old Afghan Muslim national blamed Jews for terrorism around the world and claimed that they were running a “permanent shadow government.”
“Your honor, I strongly urge the American people to stop supporting the war against Islam,” he told U.S. Magistrate Judge Steven Gold during his statement.
The terrorist’s words did not faze the judge, who ordered him to stop his rant and disclose the details about his role in the plot that was thwarted by the authorities in September.
Ahmedzay’s conspiracy dated back to 2008 when he, fellow Flushing High School classmate Najibullah Zazi, who has admitted to his part in the plan, and a third man traveled to Pakistan in the hopes of killing Americans overseas. Ahmedzay did not implicate Adis Medunjanin, another Flushing friend who has also been indicted for allegedly taking part in the plan and a fourth unnamed suspect who is awaiting extradition from Pakistan, according to prosecutors.
When the suspects met with Al Qaeda operatives, the terrorists gave the Queens men new orders, according to a nonchalant Ahmedzay.
“We told [them] that we wanted to wage jihad in Afghanistan, but they told us we would be more valuable to them if we wage jihad in the United States,” he told the judge.
For the next year, Ahmedzay trained with Al Qaeda in weapons and how to become a suicide bomber.
“I personally believed that conducting an operation in the United States would be the best way to end the wars,” he said. “They wanted my input because I was familiar with New York City.”
In January 2009, Zazi and Ahmedzay returned to America and Zazi moved to Colorado, where he would begin to gather materials and plans for bombs. The men originally were ordered to blow up buildings in New York, but the plan was changed to target the city’s subway systems in Manhattan during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan at the end of the summer, according to Ahmedzay.
“The three of us could carry out the bombings,” he said.
In September, Zazi returned to Flushing and met with Ahmedzay to go over the plan and gave him the equipment, including a detonator, with the intent to carry out the bombings around the Sept. 11 anniversary. The plot was scrapped when the terrorists became suspicious that the FBI and police were keeping surveillance on their actions.
Eventually they were all arrested and charged with conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction and aiding Al Qaeda.
Flushing imam Ahmad Wais Afzali was sentenced to deportation from the United States two weeks ago for lying to the FBI after it questioned him about conversations he had with Zazi during his visit to Flushing.
Gold scheduled a sentencing hearing for July 30 when Ahmedzay faces up to life in prison for his charges.
The terrorist’s attorney, Michael Marinaccio, did not disclose why his client chose to plead guilty or why he included the remarks against the Jews in his statement before the judge.
“Our decision was based upon what I saw was the potential evidence that was lined up against him,” he told reporters outside the courtroom.
Reach reporter Ivan Pereira by e-mail at ipereira@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4546.
