3 Brooklyn men charged with supporting Islamic State
One of three Brooklyn men charged Wednesday with planning to fight for the Islamic State in Syria allegedly offered to kill President Obama and plant a bomb at Coney Island if the terror group ordered him to do so, the Justice Department said.
Police arrested Akhror Saidakhmetov, 19, a citizen of Kazakhstan and resident of Brooklyn, at John F. Kennedy Airport on Wednesday as he attempted to board a flight to Istanbul. He was en route to Syria where he planned to fight for the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, according to a criminal complaint unsealed in federal court in Brooklyn.
The complaint also charges Abdurasul Hasanovich Juraboev, 24, and Abror Habibov, 30, both citizens of Uzbekistan living in Brooklyn. U.S. Magistrate Judge Lois Bloom ordered Juraboev and Saidakhmetov held without bail. Habibov, who appeared Wednesday in a Jacksonville court, was also held without bail.
Juraboev posted on Hilofatnews.com, an Uzbek-language, Islamic State-affiliated website, in August 2014 that he would kill Obama if ordered to do so, the complaint said. Saidakhmetov expressed his intent to buy a machine gun and shoot police officers and FBI agents if stopped from joining the Islamic State in Syria, the complaint said.
Federal investigators have watched Juraboev and Saidakhmetov since the summer of 2014 after they posted online that they supported the establishment by force of an Islamic caliphate, or dynasty, in Iraq and Syria, the complaint said. Investigators say the men planned to travel through Turkey to Syria to fight on behalf of the Islamic State. Juraboev purchased a plane ticket for travel from New York to Istanbul for March 29, the complaint said.
Juraboev allegedly pledged his allegiance to the Islamic State on Aug. 8, writing on the Uzbek-language website, "I am in the USA now but we don't have any arms. But is it possible to commit ourselves as dedicated martyrs anyway while here? What I'm saying is, to shoot Obama and then get shot ourselves, will it do? That will strike fear in the hearts of infidels."
Federal investigators visited Juraboev in his apartment and spoke with him about the post a week later. Juraboev allegedly reiterated his support for the Islamic State and confirmed he would shoot the president if the terrorist group issued a direct order and backed it up with justification from the Quran, Islam's holy book.
Despite the visit from the FBI, Juraboev continued to talk with Saidakhmetov about a plan to fight for the Islamic State. In August, investigators intercepted an electronic communication between Juraboev and Abu Bakr Bagdodi, the Iraq-based administrator for Islamic State News, in which he asked for advice on how to sneak out the USA without getting caught by the FBI.
In one recorded conversation with Juraboev, Saidakhmetov allegedly proposed joining the U.S. military, so he could pass strategic information to the Islamic State. When Juraboev discounted the plan, Saidakhmetov allegedly said he could fire on American troops to kill as many of them as possible.
Saidakhmetov's attorney Adam Perlmutter said after the hearing that his client, who was questioned by federal agents without an attorney present, denies the charges.
"He's really just a young, young man," Perlmutter said.
Perlmutter called the government's approach, which included using Juraboev's roommate as a paid, confidential informant, "hamfisted tactics."
"If these allegations are true and they are just allegations, they really makes us question the approach the federal government takes to young Muslim men in America," Perlmutter said. "There is no attempt to intervene , to speak, to explore, to understand. There is just the rush to prosecution, to arrest and to conviction."
Assistant United States Attorney Douglas Pravda in court Wednesday said the men posed a danger to the community and were likely to flee the country if let out of jail on bail.
Both men "confessed that the purpose of their travel was to join ISIS and wage jihad," Pravda said. Juraboev told officials after his arrest that he "wasn't coming back," Pravda said.
Habibov, who operates shopping mall kiosks that sell kitchenware and repair mobile phones in Jacksonville, Savannah, Ga., Philadelphia, Virginia Beach and Chesapeake, Va., helped gather supporters in the USA to pay for Saidakhmetov's travel to join the Islamic State, the complaint said. Saidakhmetov worked last year for Habibov at kiosks in Savannah, Philadelphia and Chesapeake.
"The flow of foreign fighters to Syria represents an evolving threat to our country and to our allies," U.S. Attorney Loretta Lynch said in a statement. "We will vigorously prosecute those who attempt to travel to Syria to wage violent jihad on behalf of ISIL and those who support them."
If convicted, the men could be sentenced to 15 years in prison.