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Ali Saleh, 28, will have to serve out just about all of the consecutive sentences because there’s no parole in the federal prison system.
Saleh “swore an oath of allegiance to ISIS” and embraced the terrorist organization’s directive to either travel to the Middle East or take action at home, a complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn says.
“I’m ready to die for the Caliphate, prison is nothing,” he announced, according to the complaint.
This, it says, was followed by: “Let[‘]s be clear the Muslims in the khilafah [caliphate] need help, the one who is capable to go over and help the Muslims must go and help.”
That same day, Saleh made an airline reservation to travel from New York to Turkey but was ultimately prevented from traveling because his parents took away his passport.
“Saleh made numerous attempts to travel overseas to join ISIS, and when those efforts failed, attempted to assist others in joining the terrorist organization,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen of the Justice Department’s National Security Division.
“Once arrested and detained, he attacked a correctional officer with an improvised weapon,” Olsen added.
Saleh communicated with an ISIS supporter in Mali through an online messaging platform and sent a $500 wire transfer to fund that person’s travel to Syria, federal authorities said.
He also “communicated with several others to facilitate their support of ISIS, including known ISIS supporters in the United Kingdom and Australia,” according to a release issued by the Justice Department.
Saleh bought fireworks containing 2½ pounds of explosive powder, then hid them in a concealed compartment in the trunk of his car and drove from Indiana towards New York City, federal authorities said.
Analysis of his phone showed he’d opened a link to “Muslim Gangs: The Future of Muslims in the West (Ebook 1: How to Survive in the West),” which provided detailed instructions on how to create a bomb using explosive powder from fireworks, they said.
Saleh then posted an image from the pamphlet of a soda can hand grenade with instructions on how to build an improvised explosive device.
Saleh’s car broke down on the way to New York City and he abandoned it, federal authorities said.
He later booked a flight to Egypt, which borders Libya, from JFK International Airport in Queens but he was denied boarding, they said.
He tried again at airports in Newark, Philadelphia and Indianapolis, all with no luck, according to the complaint.
Saleh then planned to take a train from Cleveland to Canada, where he intended to fly out to the Middle East, but law enforcement intervened and he returned to New York, it says.
Following his encounters with law enforcement, Saleh changed his online social media moniker and expressed his support for ISIS under new usernames.
“I am a terrorist,” one post read.
Federal agents arrested Saleh at his home and charged him with attempting to provide material support to ISIS.
A warranted search turned up paper copies of an itinerary and a Turkish visa issued in Saleh’s name, along with a duffel bag containing flashlights, headlamps and other survival gear, authorities said.
The agents also recovered a black trunk containing 29 machetes.
Saleh was subsequently lodged at the Metropolitan Detention Center, where he “assaulted numerous federal correctional officers and staff members, crafted weapons from materials in prison, broke cell windows and light fixtures, damaged property, initiated false emergency alarms, and set fires,” the Justice Department said in Wednesday’s release.
“In total, he was cited on more than 90 separate occasions for disciplinary infractions at the MDC,” it added.
A senior correctional officer was retrieving trash through an access slot of his cell when Saleh reached through and slashed the officer with an improvised knife -- commonly called a "shiv" -- seriously cutting the officer’s right forearm, the federal complaint says.
Saleh smiled at the officer and said, “I hope you die,” it adds.
Saleh first pleaded guilty to attempting to provide material support to ISIS, then to assaulting a federal correctional officer and possessing contraband, leading to Wednesday’s sentencing.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Saritha Komatireddy, Margaret E. Lee and Alexander F. Mindlin for the Eastern District of New York and Trial Attorney Katie Sweeten of the National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section prosecuted the terrorism case. The FBI’s New York Field Office investigated.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Douglas M. Pravda prosecuted Saleh’s assault and contraband case.
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