Minneapolis man gets 1 year for threat to blow up mosque

ST. PAUL, Minn. – A Minneapolis man is sentenced to a year in prison for threatening to blow up a mosque.

Fifty-seven-year-old Daniel George Fisher was sentenced Wednesday in U.S. District Court. He pleaded guilty last year to one count of obstructing people from freely exercising religious beliefs.

Court documents show that in September 2015 Fisher wrote and mailed an anonymous letter threatening to blow up the Tawfiq Islamic Center in Minneapolis “with all you immigrants in it.” Authorities say Fisher later admitted he wrote the letter to intimidate Muslims.

Prosecutors say the sentence sends a message that anyone who threatens violence because of religious intolerance will face consequences.

Fisher’s attorney asked for a lesser sentence, saying his client was homeless, struggling emotionally and wouldn’t have acted on the threat.