Aziz Ihab Sayyed, 23, of Huntsville, Ala., was sentenced today to 15 years in prison followed by lifetime supervised release for attempting to provide material support to ISIS.
“Aziz Sayyed was inspired by ISIS to kill or harm Americans and he has earned every bit of his prison term,” said U.S. Attorney Jay Town. “This case, and this investigation, serves as the gold standard for what is possible when federal, state and local law enforcement agencies work together. The FBI did an outstanding job ensuring this investigation was successful by cultivating those layers of law enforcement necessary in cases like this.”
Sayyed pleaded guilty in March to the terrorism charge. According to Sayyed’s plea agreement with the government, he attempted to provide services and personnel, namely himself, to ISIS. He acknowledged that he bought bomb-building ingredients in 2017, that he stated his aspirations to conduct ISIS-inspired attacks on police stations and Redstone Arsenal in Alabama, and that he attempted to form a cell to conduct violent acts within the United States.
Between January and June of 2017 in Madison County, Sayyed, a U.S. citizen, obtained and viewed ISIS propaganda videos depicting ISIS forces committing bombings, executions by gunshot and beheading, and other violent acts. Sayyed shared the videos and expressed his support for ISIS and for ISIS terrorist attacks around the world, according to his plea agreement.
Sayyed researched and learned how to make triacetone triperoxide (TATP), a highly volatile and extremely dangerous explosive material. He then purchased the necessary ingredients for the explosive, and professed his aspiration to use TATP in an explosive belt or a car bomb.
On June 13, 2017, Sayyed met with an individual he understood to be an ISIS member. In fact, the person was an undercover employee of the FBI. Sayyed and the undercover employee discussed the danger of TATP, ISIS’s preference for the use of certain explosives, and Sayyed’s desire to assist ISIS, according to the plea agreement. In that meeting, Sayyed offered to personally carry out attacks on behalf of ISIS.
Read more at the Justice Department
