DENVER (KDVR) — An Arizona man was sentenced last week to six years in prison for a plot that targeted Christian churches in Arizona, California and Colorado.
Zimnako Salah, 46, of Phoenix, was convicted by a Sacramento jury in March of strapping a backpack around a toilet in a Christian church in Roseville, California, which was intended to be a hoax bomb threat, according to prosecutors. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of California said that Salah’s goal was to obstruct the religious worship activities there.
The Sacramento jury additionally found that Salah targeted the church because of the congregants’ religion, which made the offense a hate crime, according to the attorney’s office.
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“Today’s sentencing sends a clear message: those who target people because of their faith will face the full force of federal law,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, in a release. “The Department of Justice will continue to protect the rights of all people of faith to worship and live free from fear, and we will hold accountable anyone who threatens or harms them.”…