ISIS news: Virginia teen is the youngest person sent to jail for alleged support of extremists
Hailing from Manassas, Virginia, Ali Shukri Amin is the youngest person in the United States who has been sentenced to imprisonment for reportedly supporting the Islamic State.
The 17-year-old pleaded guilty of secretly running a Twitter account called @AmreekiWitness, the account calling out to 4,000 followers to donate cash to the extremist group anonymously.
While known in his suburban town as a high school honors student, Amin later found his way into contacting some ISIS supporters like himself abroad who promised to help him in his efforts to assist one of his classmates who is 18 years old to cross the Syrian border and be a member of the terror group.
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In court, Amin additionally admitted that he drove his friend, Reza Niknejad, to Dulles airport earlier this year and even gave him tips on how he can find ISIS contacts overseas.
According to NBC News, Niknejad is believed to be in Syria facing terrorism charges. Court documents reportedly stated that prosecutors said he made a call to his mother shortly after leaving the country, noting that he was on his way to a "fight against these people who oppress the Muslims."
While the federal government spares some teens and is rarely known to prosecute juveniles, Amin was charged as an adult.
Lawyers from the Justice Department has called out for a 15-year sentence for Amin and others who would like to follow his course, adding that the outcome of their request should be enough to give potential terrorists a notice that they "will be met with crushing sentences."
Meanwhile, the government explained that Niknejad, under proper discussions with Syria, would be deported back to the United States for prosecution, thus making it appropriate for harsh punishment to be applied to him and Amin.
It is yet unclear what the decision will be, but Amin's legal counsel has requested for federal judge Claude Hilton to impose a six-year sentence since the teen has cooperated with officials since he was arrested.
