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He planned to serve ISIS, but instead will serve time in prison.
An Ohio man who was arrested by the FBI in 2018 while trying to travel to Afghanistan to join the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) or ISIS-Khorasan (ISIS-K), was sentenced Feb. 1 in federal court.
Naser Almadaoji, 23, an Iraqi-born U.S. citizen, will spend 10 years in prison, followed by 15 years of supervised release.
READ MORE about people arrested for supporting designated terrorist organizations.
According to court documents, Naser Almadaoji, 22, an Iraqi-born U.S. citizen, was arrested in 2018 at John Glenn International Airport after checking in and obtaining his boarding pass.
The defendant intended to travel to Astana, Kazahkstan, where he planned to be smuggled into Afghanistan so that he could join and receive military training from ISIS-K in support of both that terrorist group and ISIS. Almadaoji told someone whom he believed to be an ISIS supporter that he wanted “weapons experts training, planning and executing, hit and run, capturing high value targets, ways to break into homes and avoid security guards. That type of training.”
Prior to that, between Feb. 16 and 24, 2018, Almadaoji tried and failed to join another ISIS affiliate in the Sinai Peninsula.
Almadaoji told an individual posing as an ISIS supporter online that he planned to start a conflict in the United States between the federal government and anti-government militias. He asked the purported ISIS supporter for a guide on how to make a car bomb.
In August 2018, Almadaoji also told the purported ISIS supporter that he was “always willing” to assist with “projects” in the United States.
Almadaoji recorded and sent a video of himself wearing a headscarf and pledging allegiance to the leader of ISIS.
In addition, Almadaoji translated a purported ISIS document from Arabic to English, and he told his contact, whom Almadaoji believed to be part of ISIS, “Don’t thank me . . . it’s my duty.”
After he was arrested, Almadaoji pleaded guilty to attempting to provide material support and resources to a foreign terrorist organization.
