Midstate man pleads guilty to supporting ISIS, tweeting threats
Photo by Diana Robinson/Keystone Crossroads
The FBI raided this home in Harrisburg’s midtown neighborhood and eventually arrested 19-year-old Jalil Ibn Ameer Aziz on charges of attempting to assist the terrorist group ISIS.
(Harrisburg) — A midstate man has pleaded guilty to providing support to ISIS and tweeting threats to then-President Barack Obama and US military service members..
Jalil Ibn Ameer Aziz now faces up to 25 years in prison.
The 20-year-old lived with his mother and father in midtown Harrisburg when authorities say he sent the tweets.
Prosecutors say in 2014 and 2015, he set up 71 different Twitter accounts, and tweeted threats to kill all non-Muslims and behead then-President Obama.
He also tweeted a list of about 100 US military members, their ranks, and addresses, with orders to kill them.
Aziz’s public defender, Attorney Thomas Thornton, says his client never had the ability to act on any of the threats.
“I can only really say that he was a young kid who kinda got caught up in this. And as the government said in their statement today, these people that caught him up did it on purpose. They call them radicalizers on purpose,” says Thornton.
Thorton says Aziz’s parents are very, very upset about his actions, and wish they could have done more to control him.
Thornton says the guilty plea was delayed because prosecutors shielded a lot of documents related to the case.
“After we went through all the different legal proceedings, we found out that they were never going to show us that stuff. But they began to give us the evidence that they were going to use at trial and it became clear to us that they had enough evidence to convict Mr. Aziz,” he adds.
Aziz pleaded guilty to conspiring to provide material support to ISIS and threatening to kill people.
Sentencing is set for May 10th.
An earlier story is below:
A midstate man has pleaded guilty to threatening to kill former President Obama, US military service members, and providing support to ISIS.
Jalil Ibn Ameer Aziz faces up to 25 years in jail.
Autorities arrested the 20-year-old Aziz in his parent’s home in midtown Harrisburg in a raid in late-2015.
They say he tweeted from 71 accounts, helping link people with ISIS, and tweeting a list of about 100 US servicemembers with their ranks and addresses, ordering people to kill them.
His lawyer says he was just a lonely kid who got caught up in the message from ISIS recruiters.
Sentencing is set for May 10th.
Mosaic is WITF’s home for all things arts, culture and lifestyle.
We spotlight and uplift the creators around us, featuring amazing artists, musicians, authors, chefs, dancers, designers, photographers, and more.
