Chicago Man Threatened Women's Reproductive Clinic, Doctors: Jury

CHICAGO —A 23-year-old Chicago man has been convicted of threatening violence at a women’s reproductive clinic after a jury found him guilty of threatening to slaughter any doctor he found near the clinic, federal officials said.

Farhan Sheikh faces up to five years in prison after a jury found him guilty of transmitting a threat in interstate commerce, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois said in a news release on Thursday.

Evidence presented at trial revealed that Sheikh posted the threatening comments in 2019, on the social media platform iFunny, federal officials said. In one of his posts, Sheikh wrote, “I am done with my state and thier (sic) [expletive] abortion laws and allowing innocrnt (sic) kids to be slaughtered for the so called ‘womans right’ [expletive].”

Sheikh later wrote on the social media site that he would visit a clinic in Chicago and “proceed to slaughter and murder any doctor, patient, or visitor I see in the area and I will not back down.”

Sheikh in subsequent posts described his anger at police agencies and his frustration over the arrest of another individual for making threats online. Sheikh referred to the other arrest as “surpressing [sic] our freedoms,” and he vowed to “do the same” to “whores.”

Federal officials said the presiding judge did not immediately offer a sentencing date for the man.