A federal jury has convicted Zimnako Salah, a 45-year-old man from Phoenix, Arizona, of charges related to his plot against Christian churches—an act characterized as a hate crime due to his deliberate targeting of these houses of worship because of the faith practiced there. Salah’s case was finished with a verdict on Thursday, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of California, after he was found guilty of attempting to restrict religious freedom by fabricating a phony bomb threat.
During an 11-day trial, evidence emerged indicating that Salah visited four Christian churches in Arizona, California, and Colorado between September and November 2023. While the attendees were terrified by the black backpacks he was carrying, which resembled potential bomb devices, security stopped Salah twice before he could carry out his plan. Following the jury’s deliberations, they determined that Salah’s goal was to frighten practitioners based on their beliefs, bringing his actions to the level of a hate crime.
Salah’s social media data, which were seized and examined, revealed a disturbing pattern of consuming extremist content online. According to a Justice Department statement, Salah had been watching films glorifying ISIS terrorists’ terrible crimes and looking for footage displaying the deaths of “infidels.” Such findings portrayed a troubling depiction of a person immersed in radical views and prone to violence.
The FBI’s concerted actions with local law enforcement resulted in the seizure of Salah’s storage facility, where component elements of an improvised explosive device (IED) were located. Sid Patel, Special Agent in Charge, praised the collaboration, saying, “His deliberate targeting of multiple places of worship and calculated efforts to spread panic were intended to terrorize people of faith and disrupt the peace of our communities.” The investigating teams’ determination ensured that Salah’s threats, which had swung dangerously close to being more than hoaxes, were brought to justice.
The reactions of law enforcement officers and legal advocates served to emphasize the gravity of the offenses. “This Department of Justice has no tolerance for anyone who targets religious Americans for their faith,” Attorney General Pamela Bondi said, emphasizing the government’s steadfast stance on preventing hate crimes. Salah is scheduled to be sentenced on July 18, with possible penalties including six years in prison and a $250,000 fine, but the final decision will be left to U.S. District Judge Dena Coggins, who will consider statutory factors as well as federal sentencing guidelines.
