WASHINGTON — Instead of wearing a cap and gown and graduating with honors from Osborn Park High School, in Manassas, Virginia on June 13, 17-year-old Ali Shukri Amin will be wearing prison garb. He’s labeled by authorities as a terrorist sympathizer.
Described as a high-functioning honor student with 3.7 GPA, he was accepted to attend his choice of several major universities this fall.
But he pleaded guilty to conspiring to providing material support to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). He is among what authorities openly say are a growing number of misguided young men in the U.S. and beyond being swallowed up by the online appeal of ISIL.
“Ali Amin was brought into this seductive, destructive ideology by the material he consumed online,” said Andrew McCabe, assistant director in charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office.
“The guilty plea serves as a reminder of how pervasive on-line-radicalization has become,” said McCabe.
ISIL has arguably established itself as the pre-eminent terrorist organization in the world. Since it emerged a year ago, rapidly overrunning parts of Iraq and Syria with a massive army approaching 30,000 fighters, it has offered an alternative to the austere life terrorists groups like al-Qaida and the Taliban live. Instead of hiding in primitive, remote areas of the world and conducting periodic, spectacular attacks, ISIL’s opted to take over large swathes of Iraq and Syria, dreaming of establishing an Islamic caliphate, while violently killing, pillaging thousands along the way.
According to his attorney, Amin, who was taken out of high school in February, and his family is providing “substantial assistance to law enforcement in its investigations.”
“It is Mr. Amin’s intention to continue that cooperation so that his experience and knowledge may assist in the lawful investigations of other criminal or related activity,” attorney Joseph Flood said in a statement.
Federal authorities said in a joint news statement Amin admitted using Twitter “to provide guidance and encouragement to ISIL and its supporters, attracting 4,000 followers” and he helped another Northern Virginia teen connect with ISIL. Reza Niknejad, an 18-year-old Prince William County resident, traveled to Syria to join ISIL in January 2015.
U.S. Attorney of the Eastern District of Virginia Dana J. Boente said Amin also is very proficient in using Bitcoin and coached ISIL supporters on its use, “directing people how to use Bitcoin anonymously”, to support ISIL.
Amin will be sentenced August 28.
