https://nypost.com/2023/01/26/shaik...s-by-manhattan-district-attorney-alvin-bragg/
A radical Islamic cleric was convicted of recruiting and providing support for ISIS, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg announced on Thursday.
Shaikh Abdullah Faisal, 59, an Islamic State recruiter and marriage broker was found guilty of “far reaching crimes” of terrorism following New York state’s first ever terrorism trial, according to the DA’s office.
Faisal, a Jamaica native who prosecutors described as “one of the most influential English speaking terrorists of our times,” preached violent jihad and pushed for ISIS recruitment on his social media platforms and tried to inspire others to commit acts of terror themselves in ISIS’ name.
He additionally provided instructions on how potential fighters could best travel to Syria and Iraq undetected and worked as a matchmaker for women looking to get hitched to Islamic militants.
Faisal was arrested in Jamaica in 2017 and then extradited to New York City following a joint investigation by the NYPD’s Intelligence Bureau and the Manhattan DA’s Office’s Counter Terrorism Program — which was established in 2015 to investigate extremists and thwart terror plots, according to the DA’s office.
In 2016, Faisal began communicating with an undercover NYPD officer via email, text and video chat from his home in Jamaica in a bid to encourage her to travel to the Middle East to join ISIS and carry out attacks. He also offered to introduce the woman — who was posing as a would-be jihadist — to a suitable husband within the terror group.
The militant, who previously went by Trevor William Forrest, urged the undercover officer to listen to his online speeches and lectures in which he encouraged followers to wage jihad against enemies of Islam and even kill Americans, Jews and Hindus.
“The way forward is not the ballot. The way forward is the bullet,” he said in one speech, according to his indictment. In another he urged followers to “cut the throats” of nonbelievers with machetes.
Faisal was previously convicted in the United Kingdom in 2003 for inciting murder and using racially charged, hateful rhetoric to support terrorist ideologies….
A radical Islamic cleric was convicted of recruiting and providing support for ISIS, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg announced on Thursday.
Shaikh Abdullah Faisal, 59, an Islamic State recruiter and marriage broker was found guilty of “far reaching crimes” of terrorism following New York state’s first ever terrorism trial, according to the DA’s office.
Faisal, a Jamaica native who prosecutors described as “one of the most influential English speaking terrorists of our times,” preached violent jihad and pushed for ISIS recruitment on his social media platforms and tried to inspire others to commit acts of terror themselves in ISIS’ name.
He additionally provided instructions on how potential fighters could best travel to Syria and Iraq undetected and worked as a matchmaker for women looking to get hitched to Islamic militants.
Faisal was arrested in Jamaica in 2017 and then extradited to New York City following a joint investigation by the NYPD’s Intelligence Bureau and the Manhattan DA’s Office’s Counter Terrorism Program — which was established in 2015 to investigate extremists and thwart terror plots, according to the DA’s office.
In 2016, Faisal began communicating with an undercover NYPD officer via email, text and video chat from his home in Jamaica in a bid to encourage her to travel to the Middle East to join ISIS and carry out attacks. He also offered to introduce the woman — who was posing as a would-be jihadist — to a suitable husband within the terror group.
The militant, who previously went by Trevor William Forrest, urged the undercover officer to listen to his online speeches and lectures in which he encouraged followers to wage jihad against enemies of Islam and even kill Americans, Jews and Hindus.
“The way forward is not the ballot. The way forward is the bullet,” he said in one speech, according to his indictment. In another he urged followers to “cut the throats” of nonbelievers with machetes.
Faisal was previously convicted in the United Kingdom in 2003 for inciting murder and using racially charged, hateful rhetoric to support terrorist ideologies….
