ALEXANDRIA, Va. \u2014 More than 100 people in the U.S. have been charged with trying to help the Islamic State, or trying to join it, but Mohamad Khweis stood out because he succeeded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Khweis, 27, the only American citizen to be convicted in a U.S. jury trial of successfully joining the Islamic State overseas, was sentenced to 20 years in prison Friday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Khweis, from Alexandria, Virginia, was convicted on terrorism charges earlier this year. Khweis traveled to Islamic State-controlled territory in Iraq and Syria in December 2015, even obtaining an official membership card. But he found life there distasteful and escaped after a few months. He surrendered in northern Iraq to Kurdish forces, who broadcast his capture around the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The vast majority of people charged in U.S. courts with Islamic State-related terrorism offenses ran afoul of sting operations in which the suspects thought they had made a connection with the terrorist group, only to find out that their supposed contacts were actually undercover informants or agents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The unique nature of Khweis\u2019 crime merited a strong sentence, said prosecutor Dennis Fitzpatrick, who argued for 35 years in prison.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis defendant executed his plan to perfection. He got into the Islamic State. He was in their machinery. He was providing himself and his services to the organization,\u201d Fitzpatrick said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Once he made it to the Islamic State territory in late 2015, he \u201cbecame the consummate utility player for the Islamic State,\u201d said prosecutor Raj Parekh. \u201cWhen ISIS needed his blood, he allowed them to draw it. When ISIS needed him to cook and clean for wounded soldiers, Mohamad Khweis multitasked and filled that role as well.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One thing Khweis never did, his lawyers said, was take up arms on behalf of the Islamic State.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhile he was there, he did not fight. He did not do harm to another human being,\u201d defense attorney John Zwerling said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Zwerling agreed with the suggestion from prosecutors that Khweis\u2019 case is unique because he is one of the few Americans to actually make it to Islamic State territory. But he said his client deserves a measure of credit for leaving the Islamic State on his own, and cooperating with authorities by providing them intelligence on the group\u2019s inner workings. He also helped authorities identify four Westerners who had left the Islamic State with intentions to do harm in their home countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHe provided valuable, actionable intelligence,\u201d Zwerling said. \u201cAnd the government has given him zero credit for any of it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Zwerling argued it was counterproductive to punish Khweis with decades in prison, because it sends the message to other Americans who might consider abandoning the Islamic State that they have nothing to look forward to in the U.S. but a prison cell. Zwerling and defense attorney Jessica Carmichael argued for a five-year sentence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Khweis did not speak at Friday\u2019s sentencing hearing in U.S. District Court in Alexandria. In a letter to the court, he apologized for his actions and said, \u201cWhen I arrived in Syria reality hit me. I couldn\u2019t believe what I had done and where I was at. I hated myself for making the worst decision I ever made in my life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Despite a trial in which Khweis took the stand in his own defense, his motivations for joining the Islamic State remain a mystery. He testified that he was curious about what life was like in the Islamic State\u2019s self-proclaimed caliphate, but even his own attorneys acknowledged that Khweis\u2019 testimony was riddled with lies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe record is void of what motivated him, what got him to go,\u201d Zwerling said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Khweis grew up in a middle-class neighborhood in Fairfax County, just outside the nation\u2019s capital, graduating in 2007 from Edison High School. Before leaving for the Middle east in 2015, he worked as a bus driver for the elderly and disabled in the region\u2019s Metro system. His parents emigrated from the Middle East and he grew up as a Muslim, but was not particularly religious. His parents, who attended Friday\u2019s hearing, declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThere is no event, no instigator, no friend … no suicidal ideation that radicalized you,\u201d Judge Liam O\u2019Grady said before imposing his sentence, \u201cbut there is no question you did radicalize.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
More than 100 people in the U.S. have been charged with trying to help the Islamic State, or trying to join it, but Mohamad Khweis stood out because he succeeded.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":60419,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":16,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[101,16,26],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3025],"class_list":["post-31477","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-news","category-newsletters"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"TE3K6I5DZFE7FH7C5Y6AL2KT44","arc_canonical_url":"\/news\/2017\/10\/28\/american-who-joined-escaped-isis-gets-20-years\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n