50-year-old Colleen R. LaRose, an American woman-born woman who calls herself Jihad Jane, was sentenced to 10 years in prison on Monday for a failed al-Qaeda-linked plot to kill a Swedish artist who depicted the head of Mohammad on a dog, Reuters reported.
LaRose who converted to Islam online and has maintained her faith "was given credit for the four years she already served. She pleaded guilty to following orders in 2009 from alleged al Qaeda operatives," according to Reuters.
LaRose has already given authorities significant help in other terrorism cases since her 2009 arrest. LaRose who became involved in the Muslim online community, had traveled to Europe in 2009 "9 intending to participate in a militant plot to shoot artist Lars Vilks in the chest six times. But LaRose became impatient with the men who lured her to Europe and she gave up after six weeks and returned to Philadelphia, where she was arrested," Reuters also reported.
"I was in a trance and I couldn't see anything else," LaRose said at her hearing on Monday.
Mark Wilson, LaRose's attorney, described his client as a vulnerable woman who had been easily manipulated by those online. Her biological father " repeatedly raped her from about age seven to 13, when she ran away and became a prostitute, according to court documents. At age 16, LaRose married a man twice her age and later became a heavy drug user," Reuters also reported.
