A federal jury convicted a Michigan man for providing material support to ISIS after he was found to have joined the designated terrorist organization and participating in a religious and military training in Syria.
Following a trial that lasted nine days, the jury found Ibraheem Izzy Musaibli, 32, guilty on Monday after four hours of deliberation, the Justice Department announced.
"With this verdict, the defendant is being held accountable for traveling overseas, joining ISIS, and receiving training from the terrorist organization," Assistant Attorney General for National Security Matthew Olsen said in a statement. "The National Security Division, working with our partners, is committed to identifying and holding accountable U.S. citizens who leave this country in order to join and support ISIS and other foreign terrorist organizations. I want to thank the many agents, analysts, and prosecutors who are responsible for this investigation and prosecution."
Prosecutors said Musaibli moved to Yemen in April 2015, then went to Syria that fall. There, he went to an ISIS religious camp, then had military training that involved learning how to shoot a machine gun, the government said.
RADICAL ISLAMIC CLERIC CONVICTED OF TRYING TO RECRUIT UNDERCOVER NYPD OFFICER, OTHERS TO JOIN ISIS
Authorities said Musaibli then swore allegiance to ISIS and was with them for more than two years before being captured by Syrian Democratic Forces in 2018 and handed to the FBI, whose Joint Terrorism Task Force investigated the matter.
"This defendant willingly traveled to Syria, joined ISIS, and attended a terrorist training camp," said FBI Special Agent in Charge James A. Tarasca said in a statement. "Today’s verdict demonstrates to anyone who would seek to contribute to ISIS’s terrorist activities that the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force will be unwavering in its mission to protect the American people by identifying, disrupting, and bringing them to justice."
Musaibli still awaits sentencing. Following his conviction on charges of providing, attempting to provide, and conspiring to provide material support to ISIS, he faces up to 50 years in federal prison.
