Rasheedul Mowla, 28, of Brooklyn, N.Y., pleaded guilty in federal court on Thursday to trying to support the terror group Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham, which he sought to join in 2017.
The U.S. citizen faces up to 20 years in prison, according to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.
Mowla aimed to join a “violent foreign terrorist organization that has conducted and inspired terrorist attacks worldwide, killing numerous innocent victims, including American citizens,” stated John Durham, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York.
“Thanks to the diligent efforts of law enforcement, Mowla’s plan to join ISIS was thwarted,” he said. “This office remains steadfast in its efforts to pursue and bring to justice those who support terrorism.”
Jessica Tisch, commissioner of the New York City Police Department, stated that Mowla “wasn’t just planning to join ISIS—he was ready to kill and die for them.”
“That kind of threat demands a swift response, and thanks to the work of the NYPD and our federal partners, it was stopped before anyone got hurt,” she stated.
Mowla traveled to Saudi Arabia in June 2017 in an attempt to enter Syria and join ISIS. He was deported back to the United States in August 2017, per the Justice Department.
He admitted to authorities that he knew, when he traveled to the Middle East, that ISIS is a terror group and that if he joined ISIS in Syria, “he was planning to shoot weapons and willing to die on behalf of ISIS,” the Justice Department said.
“He sought to jeopardize the welfare of his own country to align with a foreign terrorist organization known for killing American soldiers and innocent civilians,” stated Christopher Raia, assistant director in charge of the FBI New York field office.
