Mosque Bomber Asks Judge to Acknowledge He Is a ‘Transgender’ Woman

Michael Hari
Ford County Sheriff's Office
Penny Starr

The man who is facing life in prison for masterminding the 2017 attack on a Minnesota mosque is now claiming he is a transgender “woman” and has asked a court to recognize his “gender identity.”

Michael Hari, 50, is asking to be called Emily Claire Hari and said gender dysphoria and “right-wing misinformation” is to blame for fueling the bombing of the Dar Al-Farooq Islamic Center in Bloomington, Minnesota.

The Star Tribune reported on the bizarre development, including claiming his “gender identity” is reason to reduce his prison sentence:

“She strongly desired making a full transition but knew she would be ostracized from everyone and everything she knew,” Hari’s defense attorney, Shannon Elkins, wrote in court documents. “Thus, as she formed a ragtag group of freedom fighters or militia men and spoke of missions to Cuba and Venezuela, Ms. Hari secretly looked up ‘sex change,’ ‘transgender surgery,’ and ‘post-op transgender’ on the Internet. As she purchased military fatigues for their ‘missions’ she also purchased dresses and female clothing for a planned trip to Bangkok, Thailand, for male-to-female surgery. She was living a double life.”

Elkins cites these as factors in asking U.S. District Judge Donovan Frank to give Hari no more than a 30-year prison sentence — the mandatory minimum for Hari’s conviction — and not the life term sought by prosecutors. She has also asked for an amended prison placement based on her transgender identity, but the details of the request are under seal. Elkins could not be reached for comment.

In December, a jury found Hari, of Clarence, Ill., guilty on civil rights and hate crimes charges related to bombing the mosque. Throughout the 2 ½-week trial in St. Paul, prosecutors for Minnesota’s U.S. Attorney’s Office described Hari as a hater of Islam and immigrants who viewed both as threats to American culture. After the 2016 election of Donald Trump, Hari bid on a federal government contract to build the U.S.-Mexico border wall, which Hari viewed as a symbol of protecting American values. Hari later graduated to violent action, manipulating uneducated and financially vulnerable men from Hari’s rural community to help “harass the untouchables.”

On Aug. 4, 2017 Hari, Joe Morris, and Michael McWhorter drove a rented pickup truck filled with assault rifles, a sledgehammer, and a 20-pound black powder bomb from Illinois to Minnesota to attack the mosque.

“During the trial, Morris and McWhorter told the jury that, under Hari’s instructions, they broke open a window to the mosque and tossed the bomb into the imam’s office as people gathered inside for a morning prayer,” the Tribune reported. “Hari supervised from the truck, and all three slapped a high-five as they sped away. Morris and McWhorter both pleaded guilty to their roles in the bombing and became key witnesses for the prosecution’s case against Hari.”

“The property damage was collateral to [Hari’s] real purpose,” prosecutors said in arguing for a life sentence. “This bomb — the defendant’s bomb — was an act of terror intended to destroy the heart of a community.”

“Emily Hari is more than a one-note caricature,” Elkins said in the Tribune report. “She is a complex human being who has been convicted by a jury of her peers. She will stand before this Court for sentencing, facing life in prison. She asks the Court to consider a sentence that is just and proportionate rather than vindictive or symbolic.”

Hari’s sentencing is set for September 13.

Follow Penny Starr on Twitter or send news tips to pstarr@breitbart.com.

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