Syrian man who plotted to blow up North Side church gets 17 years in federal prison

Mustafa Mousab Alowemer told a federal judge Tuesday that coming to the United States in 2016 from war-torn Syria where he witnessed dozens, if not hundreds, of atrocities as a child made him “feel like a human being, safe, conflict-free and peaceful.”

It was a place that should have been full of opportunity.

And it was — at least for a short time.

Alowemer, who was 18 at the time, settled with his family in Pittsburgh. He enrolled at Brashear High School and was able to complete four years of required classes in three years. He was accepted into community college and wanted to study engineering.

But it was during his senior year of high school as he was preparing to graduate that he also was plotting to bomb a church on Pittsburgh’s North Side in the name of ISIS.

On Tuesday, following two full days of testimony and arguments, Alowemer was ordered by U.S. District Judge Marilyn Horan to serve 17 years and four months in prison. It is expected that he will be deported upon his release from prison. If not, he will spend the rest of his life on supervised release.

Alowemer, 24, who lived in Northview Heights, pleaded guilty in September 2021 to one count of attempting to provide material support and resources to a foreign organization.

“This case has had nothing but tragic impact on all — yourself, the innocent victims, your family, our community,” Horan said. “You knew full well what you were doing. All of your actions were knowing, intentional and deliberate.”

The government asked for the statutory maximum penalty of 20 years.

The defense asked for eight years of incarceration, citing Alowemer’s horrific childhood, years of trauma and diagnoses of complex post-traumatic stress disorder and major depressive disorder.

“At the time of his offense, he was sick, and that sickness contributed to his offense,” said assistant public defender Andrew Lipson. “That sickness distorted the world around him.”

Although he had moved to the United States, Alowemer was obsessed with finding information about his family and friends still in Syria. He combed the internet to find out what was happening there, and the stories consumed him, Lipson wrote in a court filing.

Alowemer had survivor’s guilt for leaving his homeland and started to follow the Facebook accounts of people committed to fighting the Assad-Syrian regime.

‘There were other bombs, psychologically, that did go off’

The government said that in the spring of 2019 Alowemer met a person online who he thought supported ISIS. Instead, that person was a covert operator for the FBI.

Over a period of several weeks, they talked online, during which Alowemer professed his desire to travel abroad to participate in jihad. He also asked for a firearm with a silencer and a cellphone that could not be traced.

He recorded a video of himself pledging allegiance to ISIS.

Then, between April 16 and June 11, 2019, Alowemer met with an undercover FBI employee and a confidential source four separate times, making plans to bomb the Legacy International Worship Center on Wilson Avenue on the North Side.

During that spring, Alowemer sent several Arabic language documents with instructions on how to build IEDs, poisons and toxins. He also bought items to build a bomb, including ice packs, batteries, nails and acetone, and provided copies of maps with escape routes.

He contemplated setting off a second bomb that would have injured the first responders and wanted to leave an ISIS flag near the area of the attack, planned for July.

Alowemer was arrested before he could attempt to carry out the plot. It was June 19, 2019 — two weeks after graduation.

News of the bomb plot shook the North Side community that housed the church, said Pastor Michael Day. On Tuesday, he said that he is the third generation to lead the church — including his grandfather who was pastor there for 60 years until 2016.

The church has 200 members.

“This attack was not just on our church,” Day said. “It was on our neighbors. It was on our city.”

Day said that even though the plot was not carried out, the community is still dealing with the trauma of it.

“We are still named and connected to this event,” he said. “People are still leery of us. Members have left. Because of this, our church has lost financially.

“Yes, the bomb didn’t go off, but there were other bombs, psychologically, that did go off. And we are now paying repercussions for it.”

Day said that he has a responsibility to show love and forgiveness, but also to teach that “we reap what we sow.”

Alowemer fit in with classmates, but remained haunted by past

In handing down her sentence, Horan granted a defense request for a downward departure based on Alowemer’s history in Syria and later in Jordan as a refugee.

“I’m not negating the mental health consequences of your past life,” the judge said.

Alowemer’s sister testified about the family’s life in Syria when the civil war broke out in 2011.

Shahid Alowemer remembered lying on the floor next to her mom and hearing the sound of bombs being fired. She said she would bury herself in her mom’s blanket and then begin to count.

“‘1, 2, 3,’” she said.

She said she stopped at 28, because the bombs would detonate between 28 and 30.

She recounted one day when more than 10 Syrian soldiers entered their home.

She said they ordered her and her two younger brothers “to the wall,” adding, “In Syria, we know. ‘To the wall’ means you’re dead.”

A soldier held his gun to her older brother’s head, and then attacked their father, shattering his leg.

“They were the reason my brother suffered,” Shahid Alowemer said. “They were the reason we all suffered.”

The family fled Syria for Jordan in early 2013. They lived in a refugee camp, but still, Mustafa Alowemer could not go to to school, and instead worked to provide for his family because his father’s injuries prevented him from doing so.

In 2016, the family learned that they had been granted asylum to the United States.

“Mustafa was jumping in happiness,” his sister said. “We were finally coming to a dream life. He was so happy.”

Once enrolled in school, Mustafa Alowemer worked hard to to try to graduate before he turned 21.

Christine Tapu, a teacher at Brashear, said he fit in with his fellow students and was looked up to, but Alowemer also made it clear that he had seen terrible things, including beheaded bodies in Syria.

“He carried himself with a lot of maturity,” she said.

Tapu described Alowemer as humble, courteous, reserved and quiet.

One day at school, shortly after he had learned that family members and friends had been killed in Syria, during a lighthearted group discussion, Alowemer “said something really, really dark,” Tapu said.

“The gist of it was, ‘What is the point of living anyhow?’”

Fearing that Alowemer was having thoughts of self-harm, the school crisis team activated and contacted his family. They offered mental health treatment.

“The family refused any services,” Tapu said. In Syrian culture, men were expected to be strong, to not need help.

Alowemer would spend days in his room, crying.

“We wanted to help him so bad because he was suffering, but at the same time, culture took over,” his sister said.

Less than a month later, Alowemer was talking to the undercover FBI agent on Facebook.

‘This was an act of terrorism’

Assistant U.S. Attorney Soo Song acknowledged the trauma Alowemer endured.

“There is clearly sadness and pain,” she said, before adding that “our criminal justice system requires us to make hard decisions and put aside sympathy in the need to protect the public.”

When Alowemer was plotting the attack, Song said he was motivated by revenge in the name of ISIS and to create fear in the United States. He hoped that the attack would inspire others to act, she said.

“This was an act of terrorism,” Song said. “The plot included a weapon of mass destruction.”

She said it also had the hallmarks of a hate crime, in that Alowemer targeted a Christian church in an attempt to retaliate for actions against ISIS in Nigeria.

“His goal was to strike fear, affect the United States and affect Christians,” Song said.

She told the court that Alowemer also identified other potential targets, including classmates and American soldiers.

“These are not impulsive statements,” she said. “They show calculation and anticipation, and I think they go to his danger.”

Lipson argued that Alowemer was susceptible to the enthusiasm of the undercover FBI agents when talking about the planned attack.

“The suggestions slowly molded his behavior,” Lipson said. “His sickness made him more likely to engage in risky behavior.”

“It’s sad because it shows the adolescent focus on the now but not the future,” Lipson said. “Had he gotten treatment, maybe we wouldn’t be here.”

During his statement, Alowemer apologized to Day, the church congregation, the community and the government.

“I understand the severity of my crime,” he said. “I no longer think or act the way I used to. I no longer support ISIS.”

“I’m sincerely sorry. I hope my apology is accepted.”