Muslim Woman Arrested for Terrorist Threat Against University of Illinois

A twenty-four year old Wheaton, Illinois resident was arrested for making e-mail threats against the University of Illinois-Chicago campus.

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Mahtab Shirani was nabbed on Tuesday by members of the Chicago FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF), according to John W. Richardson, Chief of the University Police Department.

Shirani was charged in a criminal complaint filed in federal court in Chicago with one count of making threats through use of interstate commerce, which is a felony offense. 

 According to the police complaint, an individual subsequently identified as Shirani, who is a student at the University, sent an anonymous e-mail to a university administrator threatening a repeat of the shooting incident that had taken place the previous day at Northern Illinois University . The threat stated that a group of five individuals would carry out the attack sometime during the spring 2008 semester. However, the caller failed to give a reason for making the threat. 

 Subsequent investigation by the university's police officers determined that the threatening e-mail was sent from a computer in the campus computer laboratory. It was also determined the user ID for the computer in question was assigned to the suspect, Shirani.

Further investigation eventually led to the identification of Shirani as the suspect responsible for sending the threatening e-mail. 

 Shirani, a Muslim woman, appeared before US Magistrate Judge Nan R. Nolan in Chicago , on Tuesday afternoon, at which time she was formally charged. She was released on bond, pending her next scheduled court appearance. 

If convicted of the charge filed against her, Shirani faces a possible sentence of up to 10 years incarceration. 

In announcing this arrest, university officials commended the campus police department and the administrative staff for the prompt and professional manner in which the threat was handled and subsequently investigated. 

 “The school’s response to this threat not only led to the identification and arrest of the person responsible but also prevented widespread panic from sweeping the campus. The UIC community should be justifiably proud of their campus police force,” said Robert Grant, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. 

 The Chicago FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force is comprised of investigators and officers from fifteen federal, state and local law enforcement agencies, whose combined resources and expertise are used to investigate and prevent potential terrorist incidents.