In this undated photo, Jamie Paulin-Ramirez, 31, is shown. She was the second American arrested in a plot to kill the Swedish cartoonist Lars Vilks. (AP Image)
Irish police said on Saturday that they had released without charge an American woman, who they didn't identify, and three others arrested in Ireland over an alleged plot to assassinate Swedish cartoonist, Lars Vilks.
Seven people, including the American woman, three Algerians, a Libyan, a Palestinian and a Croatian, were arrested Tuesday in Ireland. Officers said three others who were also arrested remained in custody and were being questioned.
Speaking in Leadville, Colorado, Christine Mott identified the American woman arrested in Ireland as her daughter, 31-year-old Jamie Paulin-Ramirez. Mott described Paulin-Ramirez as a "very insecure, unhappy person that just was looking for something to hang on to."
Paulin-Ramirez's arrest is one of four developments in the past week that have involved Americans in alleged extremist plots abroad. Hours after the arrests, US authorities unveiled a terror indictment against a 46-year-old Philadelphia woman, Colleen LaRose.
LaRose has been in prison since her October 15 arrest while returning to the United States from Europe. She allegedly went by the name "Jihad Jane" to recruit others online to kill the cartoonist.
Mott said on Saturday that she was informed of Paulin-Ramirez's arrest by the FBI and other federal law enforcement agencies. Denver FBI officials said they couldn't confirm that the FBI had contacted Mott about the case.
Irish police refused to confirm whether Paulin-Ramirez is the woman in custody, and have declined to release the identities of any of those arrested.
Mott said that Paulin-Ramirez told her family after she left in September that she went to Ireland with her six-year-old son and married an Algerian whom she met online.
Before abruptly leaving Colorado, Paulin-Ramirez had been a straight-A nursing student, her mother said.
The Motts said Paulin-Ramirez announced to her family last spring that she was converting to Islam and began wearing headscarves, and later a hijab.
Paulin-Ramirez's stepfather, George Mott, who has been a Muslim for more than 40 years, said the FBI seized a desktop computer in late September but did not tell the family what they found.
The Motts said Paulin-Ramirez began to withdraw and argue with her parents about her religion in the months after announcing her conversion.
Terrorism experts says blonde-haired, blue-eyed women joining the ranks of extremists could be a troubling trend.
"(They) defy our stereotype of what a terrorist is," said Rick Nelson of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Washington DC.
Even so, says Nelson, they will find venues or forums where they can find like-minded individuals if they feel some kind of grudge against the government.