A Virginia resident and native of Pakistan was sentenced to 12 years in prison Friday for providing material support to the Lashkar-e-Tayyiba (LeT), a designated foreign terrorist group.
Jubair Ahmad was born and raised in Pakistan, where he received religious and commando training from the LeT. He moved to the United States with his family in 2007 when he was 19. In 2009, the FBI opened an investigation against Ahmad after obtaining information tying him to Lashkar.
According to court records, Ahmad produced and posted a propaganda video in September 2010 for the LeT on YouTube to help the terrorist group broaden its support base and recruit potential jihadists. The five-minute video included images of LeT chief Hafeez Saeed as well as "jihadi martyrs and armored trucks exploding after having been hit by Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs)."
Earlier this month, the United States announced a bounty of up to $10 million for information related to Saeed, the alleged mastermind of the November 2008 terrorist siege on Mumbai that killed 166 people, including six Americans.
Ahmad was also in communication with Saeed's son, Talha Saeed. According to an affidavit, Ahmad revised and reposted the video in October under instructions from Talha. Ahmad wanted to include graphic images from the Mumbai terror attacks but Talha advised him against that, citing growing pressure on Pakistan from the Indian government to bring the perpetrators of the attacks to justice. Several individuals responsible for the attacks, including the attacks' mastermind Hafeez Saeed continue to operate freely in Pakistan.
"We've seen a sharp increase in terrorists' use of social networking services like YouTube to reach a worldwide audience," said U.S. Attorney Neil MacBride in a Department of Justice press release. "Jubair Ahmad was deeply committed to LeT's violent aims, which he promoted through online propaganda, recruiting others, and fundraising for the terrorist organization responsible for the deadly 2008 attack in Mumbai, India, which killed 160 people, including two Virginians."