‘Hate Crime Against Christians’: Iraqi Man Convicted Over Bomb Threats Targeting Churches

A Muslim man who hated America and Christianity was convicted of targeting multiple churches with fake bomb threats while collecting bomb-making materials, the Justice Department announced.

The DOJ said Friday that 45-year-old Zimnako Salah was convicted of targeting four churches across Arizona, California, and Colorado with fake bomb threats. At the same time, the FBI said it found evidence that Salah was constructing an actual bomb in a storage crate he was renting, according to a criminal complaint.

Salah was convicted last week of making a bomb threat hoax, obstructing the free exercise of religion, threatening the use of a dangerous weapon or explosive, and targeting Christians because of their religion.

“This Department of Justice has no tolerance for anyone who targets religious Americans for their faith,” Attorney General Pamela Bondi said. “The perpetrator of this abhorrent hate crime against Christians will face severe punishment.”

At one church in Roseville, California, in November 2023, Salah tied a backpack to a toilet in the men’s restroom before leaving with the intent to scare congregants into thinking they may be the victims of a bombing, the DOJ said. One woman who handled the backpack believed that she “might meet Jesus today” because of the package.

“Planting a hoax bomb at the Roseville church was not an isolated incident or a prank for this defendant,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Michele Beckwith for the Eastern District of California. “His actions were designed to threaten and intimidate the congregation because he disagreed with their religious beliefs.”

In another incident, Salah left a backpack in the sanctuary of a Christian church in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Salah attempted to conduct a similar hoax at two other churches — one in Greenwood Village, Colorado, and the other in La Mesa, California — but was questioned by church security.

According to the criminal complaint filed against him, Salah is a Northern Iraqi who has lived in Arizona for about 20 years.

In his interactions with others, the FBI found that he expressed his hate for America, telling people, “F*** this country. I hate America. This country went to Iraq and killed a lot of people.”

And at the same time he was carrying out the bombing hoaxes, the FBI discovered that Salah was renting a storage unit near Greenwood Village where he had materials like duct tape with nails, red and white wires attached to a battery, nails and bolts, a box of ignition coils, and multiple propane tanks.

FBI criminal complaint.

At the time, the FBI said in its criminal complaint that the evidence indicated that the materials were “possibly being used to attempt to make a viable explosive device.” The DOJ later determined that Salah had “been building a bomb capable of fitting in a backpack.”

On the wall of the storage unit were spray-painted words in Arabic derogatory toward Jewish people and about Muhammed. Video records showed that Salah had searched for videos of “Infidels dying” and watched videos of ISIS murdering Christians, according to the DOJ.

Salah’s Storage unit: FBI criminal complaint.

Salah could face up to six years in prison and a $250,000 fine if sentenced to the maximum penalty.

President Donald Trump has made targeting anti-Christian bias a major priority for his administration. He signed an executive order in February to create a task force aimed at protecting Christians and religious liberty.