USA v. Ahmed, Parveg
Queens, NY

Islamic State of Iraq and al Sham (ISIS)

[EDNY] Parveg Ahmed of Queens, New York, was arrested on charges of attempting to provide material support to the Islamic State of Iraq and al Sham (ISIS). Ahmed was apprehended while attempting to travel to ISIS-controlled territory in Syria. He had expressed support for ISIS on social media and had viewed recordings of radical Islamic clerics Anwar al-Awlaki and Abdullah el-Faisal. Al-Awlaki was a U.S.-born cleric and leader of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula who was killed by a U.S. drone strike in Yemen in 2011. El-Faisal, a Jamaican-born cleric, was found guilty in the United Kingdom of, among other things, solicitation to commit murder, for preaching to followers to kill individuals, including Americans, because he deemed them to be enemies of Islam. In June 2018, Ahmed pleaded guilty to attempting to provide material support to ISIS. Ahmed was sentenced to 153 months' imprisonment and 15 years supervised release for one count of attempting to provide material support or resources to ISIS.