Former Cork resident jailed in the US after pleading guilty to terrorism charges

A MAN jailed in the US for an international terrorism plot was living in Cork and had previously taken a case against the Irish State over the conditions in Cork prison.

Ali Charaf Damache was jailed for 15 years in the US on Tuesday, after pleading guilty to terrorism charges last July. The Algerian-born Irish citizen had lived in Cork and Waterford in the past decade, before being extradited to the US from Spain last year. The High Court in Ireland rejected his extradition to the US in 2015.

While in Ireland, he was married to a woman in Cork and lived and worked here, before moving to Waterford after the couple's marriage broke down. The couple had met in Cork and married in 2002.

In 2013, he took a case against the Irish State, alleging that his constitutional rights to privacy, dignity, and the ability to practice his religion were breached while he was being held in Cork prison.

He was being held there after being arrested as part of an investigation by US police and gardaí in relation to an alleged terrorism plot. He was not charged at the time in connection with that but was charged with an unrelated offence of threatening to kill, and making a menacing phone call to, a US lawyer in January 2010.

During the court hearing for that charge, his former wife told the court she was afraid of him by the time their marriage ended.

He told the court that Cork prison was not "even suitable for animals" and claimed he ended up on hunger strike for 22 days because of the conditions in the prison.

That prison has since been mothballed and replaced by a new prison.

The case was struck out after an undisclosed settlement was reached.

After his extradition to the US was rejected by the High Court, Mr Damache issued a statement through his solicitor saying he was an Irish citizen and was looking forward to moving on his with life in Ireland.

However, he subsequently moved to Spain and was successfully extradited from there last year by the US.

In a statement, the State Attorney and Assistant State Attorney for Philadelphia said: "Damache, his co-defendant Mohammad Hassan Khalid, and others conspired to support, recruit, and coordinate a terrorist cell, consisting of men and women from Europe and the United States, to wage violent jihad in and around Europe. Among those with whom Damache conspired is Jamie Paulin Ramirez, a resident of Colorado, and Colleen R. LaRose, a/k/a Fatima LaRose, a/k/a Jihad Jane, a resident of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania."

The statement continued: "Though there were several involved in the conspiracy, Damache was the driving force behind the terrorist cell that he formed. He enticed LaRose and Ramirez to travel to Ireland to live with him and train in the ways of violent jihad; convinced Khalid, LaRose and others to recruit men online to wage violent jihad in South Asia and Europe; and began to coordinate explosives training for his co-conspirators. He also trained Ramirez’s young son in the ways of violent jihad."

The statement added that Irish authorities had given assistance in the investigation, along with authorities in Spain and several law enforcement agencies in the US.

Damache had an online pseudonym of theblackflag.