PHOENIX — An Arizona man was sentenced to six years in prison for plotting to target Christian churches, officials announced Friday.

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) identified the man as 46-year-old Zimnako Salah from Phoenix.

Prosecutors said that Salah was convicted by a Sacramento jury in March 2025 of strapping a backpack to a toilet in a Christian church as a fake bomb threat in order to obstruct congregants’ freedom to exercise religion. In the verdict, the jury reportedly included a special finding that the reason Salah targeted the church was due to the people who worshipped there, which made the incident a hate crime.

“Today’s sentencing send a clear message: those who target people because of their faith will face the full force of federal law,” Assistant Attorney General

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