A 46-year-old Arizona man has been sentenced to 12 years in prison for providing material support to the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), a designated foreign terrorist organization.
Ahmed Mohammed El Gammal, a resident of Arizona, was sentenced on an undisclosed date by U.S. District Judge Edgardo Ramos for providing and conspiring to provide material support to ISIS, aiding and abetting the receipt of military-type training from ISIS, and conspiring to receive such training.
A jury convicted El Gammal of these charges on Jan. 30, 2017, following a three-week trial.
According to documents publicly filed in this case and evidence presented at trial, El Gammal was an outspoken online supporter of ISIS and ISIS’s Caliphate, or Islamic government, in Syria. He announced on social media that he was “with” “[t]he State of Iraq and the Levant,” referring to ISIS; celebrated ISIS’s achievements in battle and announcement of the establishment of a Caliphate; proclaimed that he “support[s] jihad everywhere”; and declared that “[b]eheadings have a magical effect.”
In August 2014, El Gammal began communicating with a 24-year-old New York City resident named Samy El-Goarany, who was also expressing support for ISIS on social media. El Gammal provided El-Goarany with the phone number for his contact in Turkey, Ateia Aboualala, who would be responsible for helping El-Goarany travel from Turkey across the border to ISIS in Syria.
El Gammal later provided El-Goarany with social media contact information for Aboualala. Thereafter, in a coded conversation, El Gammal assured Aboualala that he had vetted El-Goarany and El-Goarany could be trusted.
Assistant Attorney General for National Security John C. Demers and U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman for the Southern District of New York made the announcement.
Key Facts
- State: Arizona
- Category: Violent Crime
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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