ISIS Reportedly Tweets Upper East Side Address Of Blogger Pamela Geller
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- ISIS terrorists reportedly tweeted the Upper East Side address of Pamela Geller, the conservative blogger known for provoking Muslims, with the hashtag #GoForth.
The message was posted on a Twitter account linked to a British-born Islamic State fighter. The account was suspended by Twitter shortly after the tweet.
Geller has drawn controversy for campaigning against a mosque near the World Trade Center site and for organizing a Prophet Muhammad cartoon contest in Texas.
"They want to make an example of me," Geller told 1010 WINS' Mona Rivera. "They want to prove by killing me that they can and will act with impunity."
Meanwhile, two men were charged Friday with conspiring to help the Islamic State group by plotting with a Boston terror suspect to kill Geller.
ISIS Reportedly Tweets Upper East Side Address Of Blogger Pamela Geller
Nicholas Rovinski, 24, of Warwick, Rhode Island, made a brief appearance in federal court in Boston on Friday on a charge of conspiring to provide material support to terrorists. David Wright, 25, of Everett, Massachusetts, was initially arrested last week.
Both men are accused of scheming with Usaama Rahim, 26, of Boston, who was killed last week by terror investigators who had him under 24-hour surveillance.
Authorities say Rahim lunged at police with a military-style knife, but his family has questioned that account, noting a knife isn't seen in a grainy surveillance video cited by authorities.
Wright and Rovinski told authorities that during a meeting with Rahim on May 31, they discussed plans to behead Geller, according to the affidavit.
Two days later, Rahim called Wright and told him in a recorded conversation that he had "changed plans'' and now wanted to attack "those boys in blue,'' referring to police, either that day or the following day, the affidavit states.
Wright is accused of encouraging Rahim to "be steadfast in his intentions'' and to destroy his phone and wipe his laptop computer to prevent law enforcement from searching them.
"In the course of this conversation, Rahim made several statements including his awareness that he might die during the attack,'' the affidavit states.
About two hours after that conversation, Rahim was approached in a parking lot by Boston police officers and FBI agents. He was shot and killed after he refused commands to drop his knife, responding, "you drop yours,'' the affidavit says.
The complaint says the men targeted Geller after she organized the May cartoon contest. Muslims generally believe any physical depiction of the Prophet Muhammad is blasphemous. Two men showed up with assault rifles and began firing, and a police officer shot them to death.
Days later, the Islamic State group publicly condemned Geller and called for her "slaughter.''
"Drawing a cartoon, an innocuous cartoon, warrants chopping my head off?" Geller said earlier this month. "I just don't understand this. They are coming for everybody and the media should be standing with me."
Geller said she now has security guards 24/7.
"Anybody that speaks critically of Islam will find themselves in this position," she said.
Using social media, Islamic State has called for attacks against residents of countries participating in the U.S.-led coalition against it.
The affidavit says that for the last six months, Rovinski has been posting comments on YouTube and Twitter supporting the Islamic State group. For at least two months, he has viewed videos about making weapons and uploaded them to his YouTube account, the affidavit says.
During an interview with the FBI after Rahim was killed, Rovinski told agents he converted to Islam two years ago and was drawn to the teachings of the Islamic State group "because they represent the more pure and honest form of the religion.''
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