Muhanad Badawi gets 30 years

[robert99]

http://english.alarabiya.net/en/New...30-years-in-jail-for-recruiting-for-ISIS.html

A California man convicted of attempting to help a friend travel to the Middle East to fight on behalf of ISIS was sentenced to 30 years in prison on Wednesday, federal prosecutors said.

Muhanad Badawi, 25, was found guilty of conspiring to provide material support to the militant group in the form of his recruit, Nader Elhuzayel, who was convicted of conspiring and attempting to join a terrorist organization. In September, Elhuzayel was also sentenced to 30 years in prison.

“The lengthy sentence imposed today results from the defendant’s acceptance of ISIS’s murderous ideology and his participation in a scheme designed to betray the United States,” United States Attorney Eileen Decker said on Wednesday.

In arguing for the 30-year sentence plus a lifetime of supervised release, US prosecutors said Badawi was “a radicalizer, recruiter, and facilitator” for ISIS who aspired to die a martyr. Prosecutors argued that Badawi deserved the same sentence as Elhuzayel.

 

[robert99]

Background at - O.C. man gets 30 years for trying to join Islamic State; judge says his calls for martyrdom made him 'dangerous'
September 2016,
Elhuzayel was found guilty of attempting to provide material support to Islamic State, and Badawi was convicted of aiding and abetting the attempt to provide material support, including using his federal financial aid to buy the plane ticket for Elhuzayel, according to the U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles. Badawi also faces up to 30 years in prison at his sentencing.

Elhuzayel was also found guilty of 26 counts of bank fraud. Prosecutors said he got cash through a scheme to defraud three different banks where he had deposited stolen checks into his personal checking accounts, then withdrew money at Orange County branch offices and ATMs.
Two O.C. men convicted of conspiring to fight with Islamic State
June 2016,
“These convictions are a message to those who aim to travel to take up arms with (Islamic State) and to those who support them — the FBI and our partners are determined to thwart your efforts,” said Assistant Director in Charge Deidre Fike, head of the FBI’s office in L.A.

But Kate Corrigan, an attorney representing Badawi, said the case was shrouded in secrecy and showed the extremes of government surveillance, with federal agents placing three listening devices in his family’s cars. She said she could never see the warrants for the listening devices, which were filed in the highly secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.

The case demonstrated that “the government is listening and you better be careful what you say,” Corrigan said.

The duo were arrested May 21, 2015. Agents from a counter-terrorism task force intercepted and detained Elhuzayel at Los Angeles International Airport before he boarded a plane bound for Israel with a layover in Turkey. Badawi was arrested at an Anaheim gas station.

Agents began monitoring the men after seeing their inflammatory comments on social media. But the scrutiny of the men intensified in April and May 2015 as agents eavesdropped on their phone calls and surveillance teams tracked their movements.

On May 7, 2015, investigators watched the men as they sat together in Badawi’s car, according to an FBI agent's affidavit filed in federal court. Later, a review of airline records showed that while they were in the car, Badawi’s debit card was used to purchase a one-way ticket for Elhuzayel to fly from Los Angeles to Tel Aviv.

Badawi was convicted of using his federal financial aid to buy the plane ticket for Elhuzayel.

 

[Second Summer]

30 years sound a bit too harsh, to be honest. Would they have received the same sentence if it were a different terror organization?

 

[beancounter]

30 years sound a bit too harsh, to be honest. Would they have received the same sentence if it were a different terror organization?

Yea it's harsh, and yea they would do the same for any terrorist organization in the current political environment.

It's makes sense though. They are trying to send the message that there is a very high personal cost to helping terrorist. Hopefully people will think twice before engaging in such activity - but probably not....

 

[Second Summer]

Yea it's harsh, and yea they would do the same for any terrorist organization in the current political environment.

Let's say it were the Kurdistan Workers Party, PKK, which is also on the US list of terror organisations ... Or Kahane Chai, a Jewish terror group. Or the Real Irish Republican Army. Foreign Terrorist Organizations

 

[robert99]

Be interesting to compare it with the "Crusaders" Militia trial in Kansas
White privilege wages jihad: Kansas “militia members” aren’t considered “terrorists” because they’re not Muslim
Kansas “militia members” aren’t considered “terrorists” because they’re not Muslim