Jamie Paulin Ramirez is an American convert to Islam who confessed to a role in a plot to murder Lars Vilks, a Swedish artist some Muslims accused of blasphemy for having drawn the Islamic prophet Muhammad.[1][2][3][4]

Jamie Paulin Ramirez
Arrested2009
Ireland
Irish officials
Detained at Federal Correctional Institution, Waseca
Penalty8 years
SpouseAli Charaf Damache

In 2009, Ramirez traveled to Ireland, at the same time as Colleen LaRose, where she married Ali Charaf Damache, who stands accused of recruiting other individuals to a terrorist cell, that plotted to murder Vilks.[1][2][3] Commentators noted that both Ramirez and LaRose were blonde, with blue eyes, and that Damache and his colleagues sought out blonde-haired, blue-eyed converts because, once radicalized, they would find it easy to cross borders without suspicion.[5]

Upon her arrival, she married Damache.[1][2][3]

Damache's assassination plans centered around LaRose.[1][2][3] However LaRose is reported to have found Damache much less impressive in person, and to have tried to tip off the FBI herself, thinking they would pay to return her to the USA. LaRose did return to the United States, and openly acknowledged her role in the plot, implicating Damache and Ramirez. LaRose received a ten-year sentence, and Ramirez an eight-year sentence.[6][7][8]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d John Shiffman (2012-12-08). "Special Report: a vow is confirmed; a jihad grows - Jane's Jihad". Reuters. Archived from the original on 2017-05-19. Retrieved 2017-07-21. Ramirez knew the man only by his real name, Ali Damache, and in his latest message to her, he persisted: Bring your son. Marry me. I will teach you Arabic and the mystical beauty of the Koran.
  2. ^ a b c d John Schiffman (2014-01-08). "'Jihad Jamie' gets eight years in Jihad Jane case". Reuters. Archived from the original on 2016-07-03. Retrieved 2017-07-21. Prosecutors, who had sought at least a 20-year sentence for LaRose, asked for at least a 10-year sentence for Ramirez, alleging that she allowed the alleged Irish ringleader, Ali Charaf Damache, to train her young son for violence. They cited a video she recorded of the boy in Ireland wearing a robe and a scarf, and carrying toy gun. On the video, prosecutors said, she commands her son to "attack the kuffar," or non-believers, and he fires the toy gun.
  3. ^ a b c d Caroline Joan (Kay) Picart (2017). American Self-Radicalizing Terrorists and the Allure of "Jihadi Cool/Chic". Cambridge Scholars Publishing. p. 43, 45-50. ISBN 9781443874724. Retrieved 2017-07-21. In September 2009, in Waterford, Black Flag (Ali Damache, an Algerian who grew up in France, and had extensive experience in selling perfume and cosmetics at the women's section of a Paris department store) finally met his two prize recruits: LaRose (Jihadi Jane) and Ramirez (Jihad Jamie). LaRose arrived a few days ahead of Ramirez and Ramirez's son; on the day she arrived, Ramirez married Damache.
  4. ^ Henry Austin (2015-12-11). "Ali Charaf Damache arrested: Algerian-born terror suspect who recruited 'Jihad Jane' held in Spain: Colleen LaRose, who used the online name Jihad Jane, was convicted in 2011 of agreeing to kill Swedish artist Lars Vilks". The Independent (UK). Archived from the original on 2015-12-15. Retrieved 2017-07-21. Ali Charaf Damache, who holds Irish citizenship, was accused of recruiting American women Colleen LaRose and Jamie Paulin-Ramirez via jihadist websites by the US Justice Department.
  5. ^ James Carr (2015). Experiences of Islamophobia: Living with Racism in the Neoliberal Era. Routledge. p. 118. ISBN 9781317529422. Retrieved 2017-07-21.
  6. ^ "Pennsylvania Woman Pleads Guilty in Plot to Recruit Violent Jihadist Fighters and to Commit Murder Overseas". US Department of Justice. February 1, 2011. Archived from the original on 2017-07-14. Retrieved 28 October 2013.
  7. ^ Susan Candiotti (March 8, 2011). "'Jihad Jane' ally pleads guilty to terrorism charge". CNN. Archived from the original on 2016-11-24. Retrieved 28 October 2013.
  8. ^ Peter Hall (March 10, 2011). "'Jihad Jane' codefendant pleads guilty to terrorism charge". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 2017-02-01. Retrieved 28 October 2013.