Florida Man Charged with Trying to join IS
A former Florida resident has been returned to the United States after traveling to Turkey and attempting to join the Islamic State group.
The U.S. Attorney's Office in Gainesville announced Monday that Mohamed Fathy Suliman, 33, a U.S. citizen, has been charged with attempting to provide material support for a designated foreign terrorist organization. If convicted, he faces up to 20 years in prison.
"Terrorists and would-be terrorists need to understand that no resource will be spared when it comes to protecting U.S. citizens and prosecuting those who seek to provide material support to designated foreign terrorist organizations," Lawrence Keefe, the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Florida, said in a statement.
According to the criminal complaint, Suliman booked a one-way flight in June 2014 from Orlando to Alexandria, Egypt, with stops in Chicago, and Istanbul, Turkey. Rather than traveling on to Egypt, Suliman paid cash for a one-way airline ticket to the Turkish/Syrian border, officials said. Suliman was arrested by Turkish authorities and accused of illegally crossing into Syria.
A search of Suliman's emails revealed attachments that contained various audio files that consisted of messages calling for jihad, officials said.
A message seeking comment from Suliman's attorney wasn't immediately returned.
03 February 2021, 02:42
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If the State Department designates you a terrorist organization, anyone giving anything to you can get these same twenty years. Remember the case of the waterproof socks? A "would-be terrorist" might not know she was a terrorist-in-waiting when she provides the socks. The evidence summary sounds a bit thin, nothing violent. "Jihad", or ejtihed, simply is a struggle for holiness. Everyone is obliged to engage in ejitihed, as a Turkish theologian told an audience I was in. While holiness is God's gift, we must struggle to receive it, against the satanic lie that says we do not need it.
