LUBBOCK, Texas — The world is watching to see how the justice system treats a college student from Saudi Arabia who is accused of buying chemicals online as part of a plan to blow up U.S. targets, his attorney said Friday.
Khalid Ali-M Aldawsari appeared in federal court in Lubbock on Friday. He has been charged with attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction after federal authorities said he bought explosive materials online and planned to hide them inside dolls and baby carriages to blow up dams, nuclear plants and former President George W. Bush’s Dallas home.
Aldawsari’s attorney, Rod Hobson, declined to comment as he left the courtroom but said in a statement that his client will plead not guilty. The “eyes of the world are on this case” and how Aldawsari is treated, Hobson said.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Nancy Koenig asked the 20-year-old Aldawsari — who was handcuffed with his feet shackled, and flanked by armed officers — if he understood the charges against him, and ordered him to remain in custody until a March 11 detention hearing. Aldawsari faces life in prison and a $250,000 fine if convicted.
Prosecutors allege that Aldawsari was influenced by the Sept. 11 attacks and speeches by Osama bin Laden and had secretly planned for years to launch a terrorist attack in the U.S.
