The Associated Press
COLUMBUS - The Somali immigrant accused of plotting with an admitted al-Qaida member to blow up a Columbus-area shopping mall has been discharged from a federal psychiatric facility evaluating his competence to stand trial.
Nuradin Abdi was returned to the Franklin County jail Wednesday after being examined for more than a month at the Federal Medical Center in Rochester, Minn. A federal judge sent him there in June for the evaluation to determine if he understands the charges against him and can help in his defense because of his bizarre behavior in detention and in court. No hearing date on his competency has been set. The U.S. attorney's office, his attorney and the judge's office said Thursday they had not yet received the evaluation report.
Abdi, 32, is charged with lying on immigration forms and conspiring to support terrorists. The Somali refugee who owned a now-closed cell phone store in Columbus has a wife and three children.
Prosecutors said in court documents that Abdi left the United States briefly for military-style training in Ethiopia, and when he returned discussed the never-acted-on mall plot with Iyman Faris, the imprisoned former Columbus truck driver who pleaded guilty to helping terrorists.
If convicted, Abdi could get up to 80 years in prison.
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