The U.S. Department of Justice is asking the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut to sentence Ahmad Khalil Elshazly to 15 years in prison and a lifetime of supervised release for attempting to provide material support to ISIS.
Elshazly, of West Haven, Conn., pleaded guilty in November 2022. He has been detained since his December 2019 arrest, when the FBI apprehended him as he walked toward a boat he believed would take him to Turkey, where he planned to make his way to Syria and join ISIS. He had paid $500 to a person he believed could smuggle him out of the United States.
“The defendant did not stumble into this offense,” the government’s sentencing memorandum, filed on Sunday, stated. “He pursued it, deliberately and unceasingly, for over a year.” Prosecutors said Elshazly repeatedly sought ways to reach ISIS, including through Turkey, Jordan and Saudi Arabia under the guise of making the Hajj pilgrimage, before settling on a smuggler’s boat.
Prosecutors also said Elshazly administered a pro-ISIS Discord server that had about 20 users, “disseminating content produced by ISIS and other jihadist figures, including execution videos, bomb-making guides and calls for attacks in the West.” The conduct was charged separately, but under his plea agreement, the government agreed to seek dismissal of that count after sentencing, with the conduct taken into account in determining his sentence.
“In the almost seven years since the defendant was arrested and detained, there is no evidence that he has reconsidered these beliefs or deradicalized,” Justice Department attorneys wrote. In August 2025, officers searching his cell found handwritten plans for an inmate uprising that included maps of the detention facility and instructions for resisting correctional officers. Prosecutors said the plans led to 60 days of disciplinary segregation.
Elshazly has had disciplinary violations on 15 separate occasions since his arrest, prosecutors said. They include an attempt to assault correctional staff through the food slot of his cell door, followed by blocking his window and barricading the food slot when emergency response officers arrived.
Under the plea agreement, the government agreed not to seek more than 15 years in prison, although the offense carries a statutory maximum of 20 years. The parties also agreed to jointly seek a lifetime of supervised release.
The Justice Department urged the court to sentence Elshazly to the full 15 years and supervised release “to not only protect the public from the defendant now, but to deter his terroristic ambitions in the future.” The sentencing date has not been announced.
