Jihad Jane: Despite cooperation, U.S. seeks ‘decades’ in prison

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The Pennsylvania woman who called herself Jihad Jane and a teenage accomplice from Maryland provided “very significant” assistance to U.S. authorities in several terrorism investigations but still remain threats to the public, prosecutors say in new court filings.

Prosecutors said Colleen LaRose, 50, should be sentenced to “decades behind bars” for her role in a failed 2009 plot to kill Lars Vilks, a Swedish artist who offended many Muslims by drawing blasphemous pictures of the Prophet Muhammad.

After years of delay, the American-born LaRose is expected to be sentenced on Monday in Philadelphia. A similar hearing for Mohammad Hassan Khalid, the youngest person ever charged with terrorism in the United States, is set for Tuesday.

U.S. guidelines call for LaRose to receive a life sentence and for Khalid, who is now 20, to receive 15 years. Given their cooperation, prosecutors asked the judge to sentence LaRose to “decades behind bars” and Khalid to “less than 10 years.”