Azizjon Rakhmatov, Conspiracy to Support ISIL, New York 2024

Grimy Times Exclusive

A federal indictment unsealed in Brooklyn yesterday charged Azizjon Rakhmatov, 28, with conspiring and attempting to provide material support to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), a designated foreign terrorist organization.

The charges were announced by Robert L. Capers, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York; John P. Carlin, Assistant Attorney General for National Security; Diego G. Rodriguez, Assistant Director-in-Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), New York Field Office; William J. Bratton, Commissioner, New York City Police Department (NYPD); and Angel M. Melendez, Special Agent-in-Charge, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), New York.

Rakhmatov is one of four defendants charged in the case, including Abdurasul Juraboev, who pleaded guilty on August 14, 2015, to conspiring to provide material support to ISIL. The investigation began when Juraboev posted on an Uzbek-language website that propagates ISIL’s ideology, offering to engage in an act of martyrdom on U.S. soil on behalf of ISIL.

Rakhmatov helped to fund Saidakhmetov’s efforts to join ISIL, discussing with Abror Habibov providing their own money to cover Saidakhmetov’s travel expenses and to purchase a firearm for Saidakhmetov once he arrived in Syria. If convicted, Rakhmatov faces a maximum sentence of 50 years in prison.

The charges in the superseding indictment are allegations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty. The government’s case is being handled by the Office’s National Security & Cybercrime Section.

Assistant United States Attorneys Alexander A. Solomon, Douglas M. Pravda, and Peter W. Baldwin are in charge of the prosecution, with assistance provided by Assistant United States Attorney Stephen Reynolds of the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Connecticut and Trial Attorney Danya Atiyeh of the National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section.

Azizjon Rakhmatov is scheduled to be arraigned at 2:00 p.m. today before United States Magistrate Judge James Orenstein at the U.S. Courthouse, 225 Cadman Plaza East, Brooklyn, New York.

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