Christopher Paul (aka Paul Kenyatta Laws, Abdulmalek Kenyatta) is an American

al-Qaeda Al-Qaeda (; , ) is an Islamic extremism, Islamic extremist organization composed of Salafist jihadists. Its members are mostly composed of Arab, Arabs, but also include other peoples. Al-Qaeda has mounted attacks on civilian and military ta ...

militant The English word ''militant'' is both an adjective and a noun, and it is generally used to mean vigorously active, combative and/or aggressive, especially in support of a cause, as in "militant reformers". It comes from the 15th century Latin " ...

, who has pleaded guilty to acts of

terrorism Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...

. He is currently serving a 15-year prison term arising from those charges.

Early life

Born Paul Kenyatta Laws, he changed his name to Alex Karagezyan in 1989, but then to Christopher Paul in 1994. Additional names have included Abdul Malek. Paul is an American citizen, resident of the

Columbus Columbus is a Latinized version of the Italian surname "''Colombo''". It most commonly refers to: * Christopher Columbus (1451-1506), the Italian explorer * Columbus, Ohio, capital of the U.S. state of Ohio Columbus may also refer to: Places ...

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

, area, where he was born. He grew up in suburban

Worthington, Ohio Worthington is a city in Franklin County, Ohio, United States, and is a northern suburb of Columbus. The population in the 2020 Census was 14,786. The city was founded in 1803 by the Scioto Company led by James Kilbourne, who was later elected to ...

. He attended Thomas Worthington High School. He then became a student at

Columbus State Community College Columbus State Community College (CSCC) is a public community college in Columbus, Ohio. Founded as Columbus Area Technician's School in 1963, it was renamed Columbus Technical Institute in 1965 and was renamed again to its current name in 198 ...

from 1988 to 1990. It was during this period that he converted to Islam, changing his name to Abdulmalek Kenyatta. From 1990 and 1994, he was taking training at an al-Qaeda camp in Afghanistan learning hand-to-hand combat and the use of weapons including rocket-propelled grenades. He also traveled to a number of countries, including Croatia, Austria, and Slovenia, before returning to Columbus in 1994 and changing his name to Christopher Paul. Paul took classes at Columbus State for another 4 years, and was granted an associate degree in 1998. He attended the Omar Ibnelkhattab Mosque at 580 Riverview Dr. in Columbus.

Terrorist period

He received training from

in the early 1990s in

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

and

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

. He fought on behalf of Islamist militant groups in

Bosnia Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and He ...

and Afghanistan in the early 1990s. In Afghanistan, he is reported to have stayed in the Beit ur Salam guesthouse, a safe house reserved exclusively for graduates of Al Qaeda training camps. Then in 1999, he was in Germany training terrorists in a local Islamist cell how to build car bombs and other explosive devices to blow up Americans vacationing in Europe. He was also alleged, in August 2002, to have met two other men in a suburban Columbus coffee house where they discussed terrorist attacks. The other two men were convicted of separate acts:

Nuradin Abdi The Columbus Shopping Mall Bombing Plot was a plan to blow up an unnamed shopping mall in the city of Columbus, Ohio. The plot was disclosed by federal authorities on June 14, 2004, when an indictment against Nuradin Abdi was unsealed by the local U ...

for a plot to blow up an Ohio shopping mall (of which Paul was one of the conspirators), and

Iyman Faris Iyman Faris (a.k.a. Mohammad Rauf;"Ohio trucker joined al Qaeda jihad"
CNN ...

(a Pakistani immigrant) for a plot to destroy the

Brooklyn Bridge The Brooklyn Bridge is a hybrid cable-stayed/ suspension bridge in New York City, spanning the East River between the boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn. Opened on May 24, 1883, the Brooklyn Bridge was the first fixed crossing of the East River ...

."Ohio man pleads guilty in alleged terror plot", https://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080603/ap_on_re_us/overseas_terror_plot;_ylt=Aly91J9HRVRlSI03GwGoHfVvzwcF, Andrew Welsh-Huggins, AP, June 3, 2008

Trial

Paul was indicted on April 12, 2007, on the following charges: conspiring to support terrorists, conspiring to use a

weapon of mass destruction A weapon of mass destruction (WMD) is a chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, or any other weapon that can kill and bring significant harm to numerous individuals or cause great damage to artificial structures (e.g., buildings), natura ...

and providing support to terrorists. He was charged with planning to set off bombs in Europe and the United States. He initially pleaded not guilty. In 2008, he pleaded guilty to plotting to bomb targets in Europe and the United States in a plea deal to obtain a lighter sentence.

References

Sources

Andrew Welsh-Huggins Andrew Welsh-Huggins is an American journalist and author of both fiction and nonfiction books about crime. He graduated from Kenyon College. Welsh-Huggins is legal-affairs reporter for the Associated Press in Columbus, Ohio. He is the author of ...

, ''Hatred at Home: Al-Qaida on Trial in the American Midwest'' (Chapter 11,) Ohio University Press (2011) {{DEFAULTSORT:Paul, Christopher Converts to Islam American Muslims Living people 1964 births Islamic terrorism in the United States

Early life

Terrorist period

Trial

See also

References

Sources