Man charged, allegedly threatened to blow up Minneapolis mosque

A 57-year-old man confessed to threatening to blow up a Minneapolis mosque, prosecutors said Wednesday.

The office of the U.S. Attorney for Minnesota said Daniel George Fisher sent an anonymous, handwritten letter to Tawfiq Islamic Center September 30, 2015 to scare its members.

The letter threatened to "blow up your building with all you immigrants in it." It was also laced with profanities and racial and ethnic slurs, prosecutors said.

Fisher told the FBI in June he'd become "increasingly angry with Muslims since 9/11" and was unhappy with the center's new location on Minnehaha Avenue.

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"Responsible citizens throughout Minnesota must always remember the importance of our individual liberties, and those of each of our fellow Americans, regardless of race, religion, or national origin," U.S. Attorney for Minnesota Andrew Luger said in a statement.

Fisher made his first court appearance Wednesday in St. Paul. He is charged with a count of obstruction of persons in the free exercise of religious beliefs.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations in Minnesota welcomed the charge against Fisher. Executive Director Jaylani Hussein hopes it'll curb the uptick of threats and attacks against Muslims, like the recent vandalism of a Mankato mosque.

"We hope the prosecution of this individual will send the message that threats targeting religious minorities will not be tolerated," Hussein said.

"As a community we're all concerned about what is happening but today we're very glad that the local law enforcement has been able to apprehend and charge an individual who had been making threats against Muslims."

An attorney for Fisher could not be reached for comment.