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A Canadian woman was sentenced to nearly 22 years in prison for sending threatening letters containing the poison ricin to US President Donald Trump in 2020.
Pascale Ferrier was sentenced on Thursday after she pleaded guilty to biological weapons charges earlier this year.
US District Judge Dabney Friedrich handed down the 262-month sentence that was part of a plea agreement with prosecutors.
She will be deported from the US after serving her sentence.
Ferrier threatened Trump
During the sentencing, Ferrier expressed no remorse and said she considered herself an “activist” rather than a “terrorist.”
She told the judge that she considers herself a “peaceful and genuinely kind person, but becomes upset by unfairness, abuses of power, and silly rules.
Judge Friedrich told Ferreir her actions aren’t “really activism,” adding “I hope you have no desire to continue on this path.”
The envelope addressed to Trump was intercepted in September 2020 at a government facility that screens mail addressed to the White House and to the president.
In the letter, she warned Trump, “if it doesn’t work, I’ll find better recipe for another poison, or I might use my gun when I’ll be able to come [sic].”
Ferrier, who holds Canadian and French citizenship, was arrested two days later after crossing the Canada-US border into Buffalo, New York.
She later admitted to making the ricin at her home in Quebec, Canada.
Repeated tactic
Ferrier also admitted to sending similar highly toxic ricin to eight Texas law enforcement officials.
According to the Department of Justice, Ferrier had spent several weeks in detention in Texas for unlawfully carrying a weapon and driving without a valid license.
She blamed the Texas law enforcement officials for her incarceration.
Ricin is found naturally in castor beans. It is about 6,000 times deadlier than cyanide and can cause death within 36 hours with an amount as small as a pinhead. There is no known antidote.
lo/ab (AP, dpa, Reuters)
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