An American man who was convicted of kidnapping, robbing and killing a Somali imam in Columbus, Ohio, has been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for at least 73 years, US media reported on Thursday.
In October last year, a jury convicted John Wooden, 48, of killing imam Mohamed Hassan Adam in 2021 after kidnapping and robbing him.
Adam, 48, was an imam at the Masjid Abu Hurairah mosque on the northeast side of the city of Columbus.
The Columbus Dispatch news outlet said Wooden would be more than 120 years old before he could be eligible for release on parole.
The imam had fled civil war in Somalia, only to lose his life senselessly in the US.
According to US media reports, he was found dead inside a van parked in an overgrown lot in December 2021 two days after he had gone missing.
Court witnesses said the victim and the killer had met before the imam’s death when Wooden had sold a box truck to Adam.
The sale reportedly happened about two months before the imam’s death.
Adam was a prominent figure in the Somali diaspora community in the US state of Ohio.
