A US judge has sentenced four people to life in prison who were waiting to revive a kidnapped child who "could help them rid the world of the CIA, FBI and US military".
A trial last year heard how the group kidnapped a three-year-old boy in Georgia in December 2017 and took him to a purpose-built training facility in rural New Mexico, where they planned to wage war against “corrupt institutions”.
A fifth person, Janie Leavelle, a Haitian citizen who was the alleged spiritual leader of the group, was sentenced to 15 years in prison under a plea agreement, a Justice Department statement said.
Siraj Bin Wahhaj, the father of the kidnapped child, his sisters Hajra and Subhana, and Subhana's husband, Lucas Morton, were sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, while Leavell will be deported upon his release.
Federal prosecutors who began the case against the five in 2018 said the compound was a facility to train children to carry out school shootings, had no running water or electricity, and very little food.
The kidnapped child died days later, and Leavell predicted that he would return to life in April of the following year and then lead them against their enemies, killing anyone who refused to join their sect.
When that date came and went without the resurrection, she changed the forecast to later in the year.
In August 2018, law enforcement officers raided the compound and found a number of malnourished children. They were handed over to child welfare authorities. Weapons, ammunition and training documents were discovered, confirming the intelligence received.
A subsequent search also found the body of the three-year-old child.
“The group intended to use the child as a prop in a plan to rid the world of allegedly corrupt institutions, including the FBI, CIA and the US military, and to kill those who did not convert to Islam and followed Leavell,” the statement said.