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Alabama terror case could hinge on relationships

Topics: From the Wires,

Alabama terror case could hinge on relationshipsFILE - This undated file booking photo provided by the Mobile County/Metro Jail shows Randy "Rasheed" Wilson. A federal judge on Monday, Dec. 17, 2012 denied bond for Wilson, a 25-year-old Mobile, Ala., native charged with plotting to join violent international jihad. U.S. Magistrate Judge Katherine Nelson said Wilson should remain in jail pending further court proceedings. (AP Photo/Mobile County/Metro Jail via AL.com, File)(Credit: AP)

MOBILE, Ala. (AP) — The terrorism case against an Alabama man accused of planning to wage Islamic jihad in Africa may hinge on just how well he knew a man on the FBI’s most-wanted terrorist list.

Federal prosecutors portrayed Randy Wilson as an Islamic radical who wanted to reunite with Omar Hammami. He is an American who also grew up in Alabama but has since become one of the most well-known jihadists in Somalia.

Wilson and another American who lived in Alabama for the last year, Mohammad Abdul Rahman Abukhdair, are accused of plotting to leave the country to join Islamic radicals fighting in North Africa.

The two men were arrested separately about two weeks ago in Georgia.

Wilson’s attorney has described him as a devout Muslim who was taking his family to Mauritania to study Islam, not wage jihad.

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