Detroit-area man convicted of aiding Islamic State in Syria
Jan 30, 2023, 6:11 PM | Updated: Jan 31, 2023, 8:55 am
DETROIT (AP) — A Detroit-area man who was captured on a Syrian battlefield in 2018 has been convicted on charges of providing support to the Islamic State group and attending one of the group’s training camps, prosecutors said.
A federal jury convicted Ibraheem Izzy Musaibli, 32, on Monday of charges of providing and attempting to provide material support to the Islamic State group, conspiring to provide material support to the group, and attending an Islamic State training camp.
The Dearborn, Michigan, man faces a maximum 50-year prison sentence at his sentencing, which is set for May 11, federal prosecutors said.
Musaibli’s lawyer, John Shea, declined to comment on Monday’s verdict, The Detroit News reported.
Musaibli, a natural-born U.S. citizen, was captured by the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces in 2018, flown back to the U.S. and charged in July 2018. He was convicted following a 9-day trial in U.S. District Court in Detroit, prosecutors said.
According to evidence presented at his trial, Musaibli traveled to Yemen in April 2015 and continued his previous research into the Islamic State group there, including downloading propaganda from the group and a book on how to get into Syria.
He then traveled in the fall of 2015 from Yemen to Syria, where he attended a religious training camp run by the Islamic State before undergoing military training where he learned to shoot, carry, and otherwise handle an AK-47 assault rifle, according to trial evidence.
After graduating from the Islamic State’s military training camp, Musaibli swore allegiance to the group and its leader and remained with the group for over 2 1/2 years, prosecutors said.
“Ibraheem Musaibli traveled halfway around the world and joined a vicious, brutal, and violent terrorist organization known — and proud of — its barbaric acts of terror,” U.S. Attorney Dawn N. Ison said in a news release.
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