Mother: Son not a terrorist

MOBILE, Ala. (WALA) - The mother of a Mobile man facing terrorism charges said her son had been planning to move overseas with his family for religious reasons. She said her son is not a terrorist.

According to his mother, Randy Wilson, also known as Rasheed, is being transported back to Mobile Wednesday night, December 12 and is expected in court Thursday afternoon.

He was arrested at an Atlanta airport, while trying to board a plane to Morocco.

Mohammad Abukhdair, who was born in Syracuse, New York, was also arrested for the crime while at a bus station in Augusta, Georgia.

According to a lengthy criminal complaint, the pair met online and bonded over Islamic extremist propaganda. Federal authorities said Abukhdair eventually moved to Mobile to live with Wilson, his wife, and their children.

The complaint describes the relationship between the pair and an undercover agent who befriended the suspects.

Authorities said they intended and nearly executed a trip to northern Africa to wage violent jihad.

“This should be a warning to all those who engage in violent jihad at home or abroad that their future is bleak,” said US Attorney for the Southern District of Alabama Kenyen Brown. “They'll end up either in a U.S. prison cell or a casualty on a foreign battlefield.”

Wilson’s mother said her grandkids and daughter-in-law were also at the airport with Wilson when he was arrested.

She said the family intended to move away to practice their religion in peace.

She told FOX10 that she has also studied the Islamic religion for years and that Wilson went to school for it in Birmingham.

As FOX10 first reported Tuesday, December 12, Wilson was a former roommate of Omar Hammami.

The Daphne native is now on the FBI’s most-wanted terrorist list after he fled to Somalia.