Ali Saleh Gets 30 Years for ISIS Support, Jail Attack

Queens man Ali Saleh was sentenced today to 30 years in prison for attempting to provide material support to ISIS, followed by an additional 100 months for slashing a federal correctional officer at Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center — a violent act committed while awaiting trial on terrorism charges.

Saleh, a U.S. citizen from Queens, New York, pleaded guilty in July 2018 to attempting to provide material support to the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS). At the federal courthouse in Brooklyn, United States District Judge William F. Kuntz, II, handed down the consecutive sentences, ensuring Saleh will serve decades behind bars for his dual betrayals — one to national security, the other to the officers tasked with guarding him.

Beginning in 2013, Saleh swore allegiance to ISIS and embraced the group’s call for global jihad. On August 25, 2014, he posted online, “I’m ready to die for the Caliphate, prison is nothing.” Three days later, he booked a flight from New York to Turkey — a gateway to Syria — but was stopped when his parents seized his passport. Undeterred, he pivoted to funding others’ travel. In October 2014, he sent a $500 wire to an ISIS supporter in Mali and coordinated with extremists in the UK and Australia.

His criminal turn worsened behind bars. While detained at the MDC, Saleh pleaded guilty in June 2019 to assaulting a correctional officer with an improvised weapon and possessing contraband. The attack was described as vicious and premeditated, a direct assault on the federal system holding him accountable. The 100-month sentence for this crime will run consecutively to his 30-year terrorism term.

Breon Peace, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, stated, “Today’s sentence demonstrates the strong commitment of this Office and its law enforcement partners to rooting out and prosecuting dangerous jihadists like Saleh and stopping their efforts to support terrorist attacks at home or abroad.” He stressed that Saleh’s violence against a corrections officer would not be tolerated.

“Saleh made numerous attempts to travel overseas to join ISIS, and when those efforts failed, attempted to assist others in joining the terrorist organization,” said Matthew G. Olsen, Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s National Security Division. FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge Michael J. Driscoll added that the New York Joint Terrorism Task Force remains vigilant against threats like Saleh’s. “He is being held accountable,” Driscoll said. “And we’re not backing down.”