Cholo Abdi Abdullah, a 35-year-old convicted terrorist, has delayed his sentencing after requesting to hire lawyers for that stage of his trial, a few months after he declined legal representation.
During his trial, Abdi said that he did not believe that the US justice system is legitimate, hence declined to hire a lawyer.
He also declined representation from lawyers provided by the US government to represent him pro bono.
On Monday, US District Judge Analisa Torres adjourned Abdi’s sentencing to April 7, 2025, after a private conference with the convict, who had earlier said he now wanted lawyers to represent him at the sentencing stage.
“I was thinking of having new lawyers who will represent me… I don’t want these two lawyers to represent me. I want to start afresh,” Abdi said, an indication that he may have had a Damascus moment that will lead to his challenging the six charges, and conviction, in an appeal.
He faces a maximum penalty of life in prison in three of the six counts he was convicted of. In each of the other three counts, he faces a maximum prison sentence of 20 years.
At the time of his arrest in Philippines on July 1, 2019 and subsequent prosecution in the US, Cholo Abdi Abdullah had resigned to fate and was seemingly prepared to spend most, if not all, of his life in prison for planning a terror attack on foreign soil.
Perhaps it was because his arrest stemmed from his mother reporting to police that Abdi had joined the Somalia-based Al-Shabaab terror group, or maybe he knew that the evidence authorities had gathered was enough to ensure he faced judgment for his sins.
In the Manhattan court presided over by Judge Torres, Abdi said he would not contest anything after pleading not guilty and that he would let the chips fall where they may.
Abdi did not hire a lawyer during his December 16, 2020, arraignment before Magistrate Judge Robert W. Lehrburger or for the subsequent trial before Judge Torres.
While an appeal may still be possible, his conviction on six terror-related charges stand, and a maximum penalty of life in prison is still on the cards.
Abdi was arrested on July 1, 2019, in Iba, a small municipality in the Philippines with a population of just over 55,000.
He was in possession of a loaded pistol with extra ammunition, an explosive device and materials used in making grenades and other types of bombs.
By this time, security and intelligence officers from the US, Philippines and Kenya were already working together in building a case against Abdi, all which started with his mother alerting Kenya’s Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) of the 35-year-old’s involvement with Al-Shabaab.
Abdi cooperated with authorities, even telling the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) who his handler was and what terror activities they had planned.
It emerged that after joining Al-Shabaab in 2015, Abdi trained as a militant before travelling to the Philippines a year later to train as a pilot. Abdi’s studies in the Philippines, investigations revealed, were financed by Al-Shabaab leaders.
Abdi was at the tail end of his two-year course at the All-Asia Aviation Academy when he was arrested. Turns out, he wanted to use that expertise to hijack a commercial flight and crash it into a tall building in Atlanta, similar to the September 11, 2001 World Trade Centre attack in New York.
He had already acquired a private pilot license, meaning he was allowed to fly aircraft so long as it was not for commercial gain. Abdi was in the process of obtaining a commercial pilot license.
“All told, the defendant (Abdi) secured his private pilot’s license and came terrifyingly close to getting his commercial pilot’s license just before he was arrested,” prosecutors told Judge Torres during trial.
Abdi had on several occasions done research on breaching a cockpit – which pointed to his plans to hijack a commercial aircraft and ram it into a tall building.
During interrogation by the FBI, Abdi told investigators that his handler was Ali Salim Gichunge, alias Farouk.
Gichunge was one of the five Al-Shabaab militants whose attack on 14 Riverside Drive between January 15 and 16, 2019 left 21 civilians and one Kenya Defence Forces officer dead.
Response from a multi-agency security team supported by local and foreign intelligence groups saw all five Al-Shabaab militants killed and the complex secured.
Abdi and Gichunge were both born and raised in Isiolo, and they both joined Al-Shabaab in 2015.
