On Friday, August 25, a US court docket sentenced a Pakistani guy named Muhammad Masood to 18 years in jail and next supervised free up after he was once convicted of making an attempt to offer subject matter enhance to the fear outfit Islamic Stae of Iraq and Al-Sham (ISIS). The Pakistani convict had pleaded in charge on August 16 ultimate yr.
Consistent with a press free up issued by way of america Justice Division, Muhammad Masood (31), an authorized scientific physician in Pakistan had below an H-1B visa labored as a analysis coordinator at a scientific hospital in Rochester, Minnesota. Masood labored on the Mayo Medical institution in the past however was once running at a analysis hospital in Rochester when he was once arrested in 2020.
Masood used an encrypted messaging carrier to permit his shuttle in another country to enroll in the Islamic terrorist organisation ISIS between January and March 2020. Masood expressed his need to enroll in the Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham (ISIS) and declared his allegiance or “Bayat” to the proscribed terrorist organisation and its chief in lots of his statements.
Muhammad Masood had additionally expressed his aspiration to hold out ‘lone wolf’ terrorist assaults in the US. Reportedly, Masood was once additionally prepared to battle and paintings as a struggle medic for the Islamic terrorist outfit within the Center East.
The inquiry into Masood’s actions started in January 2020, when investigators found out he had on an encrypted social media community requested for help on “making hijra”. Consistent with a testimony submitted by way of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the time period is frequently utilized in Islamic State circles to indicate shuttle to territory managed by way of ISIS for the purpose of “violent jihad.”
The Pakistani physician became Jihadi had deliberate to succeed in Syria by means of the course of Chicago, Illinois, to Amman, Jordan and from there directly to Syria. Masood had on February 21, 2020, purchased aircraft tickets accordingly. Then again, Muhammad Masood needed to trade his shuttle plans as Jordan closed its borders for incoming flights within the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Following this, Masood made up our minds to fly from Minneapolis to Los Angeles to satisfy with any individual he believed may just assist him cross by means of shipment send to ISIS territory.
Masood travelled from Rochester to Minneapolis-St. Paul World Airport (MSP) on March 19, 2020, to board a aircraft heading for Los Angeles, California. Masood checked in for his flight at MSP. Then again, the Pakistani Jihadi was once apprehended there by way of the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Activity Power.
He was once stuck for the reason that individuals he was once speaking to about his plans to enroll in ISIS have been in fact executive informants.
Particularly, Masood’s legal professional, Jordan Kushner, claimed that Masood suffered from “psychological sickness”. Masood’s legal professional informed The New York Occasions on Friday that the sentence was once “extraordinarily harsh” taking into consideration his consumer’s historical past of psychological sickness.
Kushner, in court docket, had referred to a psychiatrist’s file, which discovered that Masood’s acts will have to be observed “no longer as an act of devotion to violent extremism and the targets of ISIS, however on account of his psychological sickness and more than one stressors.”