Irish holding woman in ‘JihadJane’ case

Authorities in Ireland are investigating whether a second American woman was involved in a suspected international plot to kill a Swedish cartoonist for mocking the prophet Muhammad, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday.

According to the Journal’s online report, a 31-year-old mother from Colorado named Jamie Paulin-Ramirez was one of seven people detained in Ireland on Tuesday.

Irish police said they were arrested in connection with a plot to kill cartoonist Lars Vilk because of his 2007 illustration depicting Muhammad with the body of a dog.

The U.S. Justice Department said on Tuesday it had charged a Pennsylvania woman, Colleen LaRose, who went by the pseudonyms “Fatima LaRose” and “JihadJane,” with plotting to kill a Swedish man.

The department also has accused LaRose of trying to recruit fighters to commit violent attacks overseas.

The Journal said one of the people detained in Ireland was an Algerian man who was the main contact for LaRose.

That man “has a relationship with Ms. Paulin-Ramirez according to a person close to the matter,” the newspaper reported.

The arrests in Ireland included two more Algerians, a Croat, a Palestinian and a Libyan.

Paulin-Ramirez announced nearly a year ago she had embraced Islam and last Sept. 11 she left her home in a small Rocky Mountain town to marry a Muslim man in New York whom she had made contact with via a website, the newspaper said.

The Journal interviewed Paulin-Ramirez’s mother, Christine Holcomb, in Colorado.

“I’m angry with her right now,” she was quoted as saying.

“I’d like to just choke her. But I’m worried about her, too. I love my daughter.”