PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) – The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has accepted an appellate brief on behalf of Mohamed Mohamud, the Somali American sentenced to 30 years in prison for plotting to bomb downtown Portland during the annual lighting of a Christmas tree.
The truck bomb was a fake given to him in 2010 by undercover FBI agents posing as terrorists.
The Oregonian newspaper reports that the appeal contends the FBI’s surveillance of Mohamud violated his constitutional right against unlawful search and seizure.
The surveillance was authorized by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. The law that created the secretive court allows warrantless physical and electronic surveillance of suspected terrorists.
The appeal seeks the reversal of Mohamud’s 2013 conviction.
U.S. prosecutors have until Dec. 7 to file their appellate brief.
Filed under: Crime
