Daniel Joseph Maldonado

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Daniel Joseph Maldonado (also Daniel Aljughaifi) is a U.S. citizen who, on February 15, 2007 in Houston, Texas, was charged with "training from a foreign terrorist organization and conspiring to use an explosive device outside the United States." He was 28 years old at the time of his arrest.^[1]

[edit] Early life

Maldonado grew up in Newton and later Pelham, New Hampshire, lived in Houston from August 2005 to November 2005, before moving to Cairo, Egypt.^[2] Daniel Joseph Maldonado, a former Houston resident who converted to Islam and admitted training with terrorists, was sentenced July 20, 2007 to 10 years in prison and given a $1,000 fine.

Maldonado, 28, pleaded guilty in April to training with al-Qaida in East Africa. He is the first American charged with conspiring to use a weapon of mass destruction and receiving a military-type training from a foreign terrorist organization in Somalia, although the charge is incorrect. He trained with al-Qaida in Somalia, but didn't have any access to weapons of mass destruction. The second charge carried a maximum prison sentence of 10 years and a fine up to $250,000.

[edit] Charges

In the charges, it was alleged he took part in training at camps near Kismayo and Jilib in Somalia, where members of Al-Qaeda were present, though he was not accused of being a member of Al Qaeda directly. He had gone to Somalia in December 2006 to assist the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) in their war against the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) of Somalia, and its ally, Ethiopia; a war which the ICU declared as a jihad.^[3] He had been extradited by Kenyan authorities after he fled there. In the charges, Maldonado was said to be willing to become a suicide bomber if he became wounded.^[1]