A jury in the U.S. District Court in Denver found Uzbek refugee Jamshid Muhtorov guilty on three counts involving material support to a terrorist organization. The guilty verdicts came after a 19-day trial before Senior U.S. District Court Judge John L. Kane. The defendant was acquitted of an additional count.
“Jamshid Muhtorov and Bakhtiyor Jumaev, who was previously convicted, conspired and attempted to provide material support to the Islamic Jihad Union (IJU), a designated foreign terrorist organization,” said Assistant Attorney General John Demers. “Thanks to all the prosecutors, agents, and analysts on these cases, these defendants will now be held accountable for their crimes.”
On April 30, a jury in the U.S. District Court found Muhtorov’s co-defendant, Bakhtiyor Jumaev, guilty of similar charges. Sentencing for Jumaev is scheduled for July 18.
Juamev sent Muhtorov $300 in 2011 to support the Islamic Jihad Union. Muhtorov was arrested in 2012 trying to fly from Chicago to Turkey with $2,865 and various electronic equipment that he wanted to use to aid the group’s propaganda effort. “What I really want to do is go fight and lose my life in the jihad,” Muhtorov reportedly told Jumaev in a phone conversation recorded by the FBI. “We’ll raise the banner of jihad with a weapon in one hand and a Quran in the other.”
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