WASHINGTON, Dec 30: A 23-year-old American has pleaded guilty to defacing an Islamic Centre in the US state of Missouri with anti-Pakistan spray-painted graffiti and burning copies of the Muslim holy book outside the building.
Adam David Smock, of California, yesterday pleaded guilty before a US court to a federal charge of defacing the Islamic Centre with graffiti and burning two copies of the Quran.
According to the Justice Department, Smock admitted that he and two other individuals — one of whom was a 14-year-old minor — spray-painted graffiti on the exterior walls of the Islamic Centre of Springfield on January 7, 2011.
The graffiti included explicit and offensive language in addition to statements such as “Bash Back,” “Now is our time!” and “You bash us in Pakistan we bash here.”
Smock admitted that on April 10, 2011, he and the same two individuals partially burned two copies of the Quran, and left the burned copies of the holy book right in front of the Islamic Centre, approximately 30 feet away from the building.
He also admitted that it was his idea to commit the acts and that he persuaded his co-conspirators to participate, and that he selected the Islamic Centre of Springfield for vandalism because of the religious nature of the property in order to threaten and intimidate worshippers so as to hinder and interfere with the worshippers’ enjoyment of their constitutional right to the free exercise of religion.
Under the terms of plea agreement, a joint recommendation will be made to the court that Smock be incarcerated for 14 days, followed by a five-year term of supervised release; that Smock must pay USD 10,440 in restitution; and that Smock must perform 40 hours of community service. (PTI)
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