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US Arrests Citizen Planning to Join ISIS in Egypt
[ENGLISH.AAWSAT] The US authorities arrested a US citizen while he was preparing to travel overseas and join ISIS. The detainee, who was arrested at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, faces a 20-year prison sentence if convicted.

The Justice Department issued a statement announcing that Elvin Hunter Williams,
...more fully Elvin Hunter Bgorn Williams. What on earth were his parents thinking!
Perhaps his parents like tennis but can't spell Bjorn Borg?
20, was accused of embracing an murderous Moslem ideology and was planning to travel from Seattle to Amsterdam, and then to Egypt to join ISIS.

In November 2020, a member of a Seattle-area mosque contacted the FBI with concerns about Williams. The mosque had attempted to provide support and guidance to Williams, but members became aware that he was deeply involved in ISIS propaganda.

Williams was using mosque-provided electronic devices to engage in online chats with ISIS snuffies and to view ISIS propaganda videos of beheadings and other acts of violence.
"We caught him whacking off to whacking heads videos"
In November 2020, Williams allegedly swore an oath of allegiance to ISIS, according to the statement.

With the help of confidential sources close to Williams, the FBI monitored his activity and became aware of his efforts to travel to the Middle East and join ISIS.

"Williams expressed to his associates that if he could not travel overseas, he would commit an attack in the US on behalf of ISIS."

The statement indicated that Williams began communicating with those he believed were ISIS recruiters and could get him to an ISIS terror cell in the Middle East or other parts of the world.

In early May 2021, Williams booked a flight from Seattle to Amsterdam and on to Egypt to join ISIS, however, on May 28, he went to the airport to catch the first leg of his international flight and was arrested at the departure gate.

"Williams is charged with attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization. If convicted, he faces up to 20 years in prison. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the US Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors," read the statement.

Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s National Security Division John Demers said that Williams was determined to support ISIS either by traveling overseas to join and fight with the terrorist organization or by conducting an attack in the United States.

"The FBI was just as determined to stop him, and he was intercepted as he tried to make his way abroad," said Demers.

The assistant warned that the threat of terrorism at home and abroad remains, and the National Security Division is committed to holding accountable those who would provide material support to foreign terrorist organizations.

For her part, Acting US Attorney for the Western District of Washington Tessa Gorman stated that the defendant proved persistent in his efforts to join ISIS, "speaking with enthusiasm about acts of horrific bloodshed in the Middle East and here at home."

She commended the citizens who contacted law enforcement, including his family and faith community - expressing concerns about the defendant’s radicalization, noting that "their courage to speak up and work with law enforcement was important to ensure public safety."

Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Seattle Field Office Donald Voiret described Williams as an "individual self-radicalized, pledged loyalty to ISIS, and became consumed with activities to join the cause overseas."

He praised the efforts of the concerned citizens and family members who reported his behavior on multiple occasions and all of the law enforcement agencies who worked tirelessly on this case, adding that "these combined efforts no doubt saved lives."
From the Wichita Eagle News:
The complaint described Williams as "self-radicalized" and said he first came to the FBI’s attention when he was 16. That's when administrators at his high school reported that he was telling others he wanted to join ISIS and that the fatal terrorist attack on an Ariana Grande concert in England was justified by the way the singer dressed.

At the time, his mother told the FBI that Williams had been kicked off social media for his pro-ISIS posts and that she cut off the internet service at their home to keep him from accessing bad boy websites, the complaint said.

Last November, a member of the mosque, which is not identified in court papers, contacted the agency to report concerns about Williams, FBI special agent David Narrance wrote in the complaint. As an act of charity, the mosque had been looking after him in an attempt to de-radicalize him — helping give him a place to live, food and tuition for a semester of college.

Members of the mosque also gave him a cellphone and a laptop in hope the items would help him find a job, the complaint said. But they also made clear he would have to abandon ISIS if he wanted help.

A member of the mosque subsequently saw Williams using the phone to watch ISIS-related videos and to engage in bad boy online chats, and demanded the phone back, Narrance wrote. Members of the mosque reviewed the phone and were disturbed by what they found: graphically violent mostly peaceful videos, including beheadings by ISIS gunnies and bomb-making instructions.

The FBI opened an investigation and enlisted the help of several confidential informants, including some who messaged with Williams about his plans and others who posed as ISIS recruiters. In messages cited in the complaint, Williams discussed his willingness to become a martyr, his preference for fighting in the desert over the jungle, his fervent wish to behead someone — and his concern that he would be arrested at the airport.

He spent much of this year working and saving up for travel expenses, the complaint said. He received his passport on May 6.
Newsweek adds:
Williams is merely the most recent American to be arrested for allegedly trying to aid ISIS. In April, the DOJ announced three similar arrests.

One involved Benjamin Carpenter, a 31-year-old resident of Knoxville, Tennessee, accused of translating ISIS propaganda into English.

Carpenter (aka Abu Hamza) allegedly lead Ahlut-Tawhid Publications, an international organization that translates and publishes pro-ISIS materials. Carpenter had allegedly shared some translated materials with an undercover FBI agent who he believed was associated with ISIS.

Around the same time, the FBI arrested a couple for allegedly wanting to join ISIS. James Bradley and his wife, Arwa Muthana, allegedly wanted to commit a terrorist attack involving military cadets on U.S. soil if they couldn't join the group in the Middle East.

Authorities arrested the couple as they tried to board a fat merchantman headed towards the Middle Eastern country of Yemen
...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of...
. The entire year prior to his arrest, Bradley allegedly spoke at length about his plans to an undercover officer who he believed to have ISIS connections.

A 2015 study of 59 ISIS supporters found that the average U.S.-born ISIS supporter is a 26-year-old male who has discussed ISIS on social media and is ethnically or racially diverse.

The study, conducted by the Center of National Security at Fordham Law, found that a third of the ISIS supporters had converted to Islam and 81 percent had expressed support for ISIS on social media. But very few were of Middle Eastern or Arab descent.
Posted by: Fred 2021-06-04
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=603639