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US jury convicts man who created computer code to help ISIS
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] A US federal jury convicted an Illinois man on Monday for creating a computer script intending to help ISIS spread propaganda online, according to a Department of Justice statement.For the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.reliably Democrat Chicago, aka The Windy City or Mobtown ...home of Al Capone, the Chicago Black Sox, a succession of Daleys, Barak Obama, and Rahm Emmanuel... man Thomas Osadzinski, 22, designed a computer script that he believed would make it easier for ISIS to reproduce its material posted online. He shared his script and instructions on how to use it in 2019 with individuals he thought were ISIS supporters and members of pro-ISIS media groups. The individuals turned out to be undercover FBI  ...Formerly one of the world's premier criminal investigation organizations, something for a nation to be proud of. Now it's a political arm of the Deep State oligarchy that is willing to trump up charges, suppress evidence, or take out insurance policies come election time...agents. Osadzinski faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison after being found guilty of attempting to provide material support and resources to a foreign terrorist organization. Assistant US Attorney Melody Wells told jurors last week that ISIS view their online messengers as equals to battlefield soldiers, The Chicago Sun Times reported. "[Osadzinski] was responding to those directions to engage in media jihad to support ISIS on the digital front," Wells said. "There is nothing independent about this." Defense attorney Joshua Herman argued that his client’s actions were protected by free speech laws. He argued that "the First Amendment includes a right to say things that are disfavored, that are reprehensible, that are vile." Wells added that Osadzinski resisted arrest and fought officers before he was finally apprehended.
The jury deliberated about four hours beginning Friday before finding Thomas Osadzinski, 22, originally from Park Ridge, guilty of attempting to provide material support to a terrorist organization. He faces a maximum of 20 years in prison. Prosecutors alleged Osadzinski, who had pledged fealty to ISIS, used skills he was learning in college to create a first-of-its-kind program aimed at helping the terrorist organization spread its violent messages online. Osadzinski’s attorneys, however, painted him as a naive teenager “lost in the abyss of the internet” whose online activities were protected by the First Amendment. The two-week trial was the latest in a string of ISIS-related cases brought in U.S. District Court in Chicago that have continued well after the collapse of the group’s caliphate in Syria and Iraq nearly four years ago. In 2019, two friends from far north suburban Zion were convicted by a federal jury of attempting to aid the terrorist group by providing cellphones to an undercover FBI agent to be used as detonators for bombs. Joseph Jones was sentenced to 12 years in prison, while his co-defendant, Edward Schimenti, received 13½ years behind bars. Osadzinski’s case was unique because it centered on a fairly rudimentary computer code he wrote, rather than the planning of any actual attack or attempt to send equipment overseas. While Osadzinski’s lawyers downplayed his sophistication, prosecutors said his statements both online and in undercover recordings showed he was excited to have created a new and potentially powerful tool for ISIS, which relies heavily on social media to spread propaganda. In her closing argument Friday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Melody Wells said Osadzinski’s computer program could rapidly download, replicate and spread violent ISIS videos faster than social media platforms could delete them, significantly improving the terrorist organization’s messaging capabilities. A recent convert to Islam, Osadzinski spoke only rudimentary Arabic and fell victim to overzealous agents who pretended to be ISIS sympathizers, befriended him, and gave him a mission that in the end went nowhere, according to attorney Joshua Herman. Related: Joseph Jones: 2019-06-22 Two Chicago-area men convicted of providing support to Islamic State Posted by: Fred 2021-10-20 |
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