Pakistani doctor who sought to support Islamic State terror group sentenced in Minnesota to 18 years
Also: Pakistani Doctor Sentenced to 18 Years in Prison for Attempting to Provide Material Support to ISIS (U.S. Department of Justice)
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Source: Associated Press
Pakistani doctor who sought to support Islamic State terror group sentenced in Minnesota to 18 years
BY STEVE KARNOWSKI
Updated 5:19 PM EDT, August 25, 2023
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A Pakistani doctor and former Mayo Clinic research coordinator who sought to join the Islamic State terrorist group to fight in Syria and expressed interest in carrying out attacks on U.S. soil was sentenced Friday to 18 years in prison.
Muhammad Masood, 31, pleaded guilty a year ago to attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization. Prosecutors said he attempted unsuccessfully to travel from the U.S. to Syria via Jordan in 2020, then agreed to fly from Minneapolis to Los Angeles to meet up with someone he thought would help him travel by cargo ship to IS territory.
But FBI agents arrested him at the Minneapolis airport on March 19, 2020, after he checked in for his flight.
U.S. District Judge Paul Magnuson handed down his sentence Friday in St. Paul.
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Read more: https://apnews.com/article/islamic-state-terrorism-minnesota-0e4a09840bed202cac17e18e3dfd87d5
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Source: Office of Public Affairs, U.S. Department of Justice
Pakistani Doctor Sentenced to 18 Years in Prison for Attempting to Provide Material Support to ISIS
Friday, August 25, 2023
For Immediate Release
Office of Public Affairs
A Rochester man was sentenced today to 216 months in prison, equivalent to 18 years, followed by five years of supervised release for attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization.
According to court documents, Muhammad Masood, 31, a licensed medical doctor in Pakistan, was formerly employed as a research coordinator at a medical clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, under an H-1B visa. Between January 2020 and March 2020, Masood used an encrypted messaging application to facilitate his travel overseas to join a terrorist organization. Masood made multiple statements about his desire to join the Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham (ISIS), and he pledged his allegiance to the designated terrorist organization and its leader. Masood also expressed his desire to conduct “lone wolf” terrorist attacks in the United States. On Feb. 21, 2020, Masood purchased a plane ticket from Chicago, Illinois, to Amman, Jordan, and from there planned to travel to Syria. On March 16, 2020, Masood’s travel plans changed because Jordan closed its borders to incoming travel due to the coronavirus pandemic. Masood then agreed to fly from Minneapolis to Los Angeles to meet up with an individual who he believed would assist him with travel via cargo ship to deliver him to ISIS territory.
On March 19, 2020, Masood traveled from Rochester to Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport (MSP) to board a flight bound for Los Angeles, California. Upon arrival at MSP, Masood checked in for his flight and was subsequently arrested by the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force.
Masood pleaded guilty on Aug. 16, 2022, to attempting to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization. Masood was sentenced today before Senior Judge Paul A. Magnuson.
The FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force investigated the case.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew R. Winter for the District of Minnesota and Trial Attorney Dmitriy Slavin National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section prosecuted the case.
Updated August 25, 2023
https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/pakistani-doctor-sentenced-18-years-prison-attempting-provide-material-support-isis
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