Pakistani Doctor Sentenced To 18 Years In Prison For Attempting To Support To ISIS

The doctor was formerly employed as a search coordinator at a medical clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, under an H-1B visa.

Masood was arrested by the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force from the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport (MSP).

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A Pakistani doctor, Muhammad Masood has been sentenced to 18 years in prison for attempting to provide material support to the terrorist organisation Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham (ISIS) and for trying to conduct "lone wolf” attacks in the United States. On Friday, Masood was sentenced to 18 years in prison, this will be followed up by five years of supervised release. In August 2022, he pleaded guilty to the allegations against him, according to a PTI report. 

Masood was formerly employed as a research coordinator at a medical clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, under an H-1B visa. He was a licensed medical doctor in Pakistan, the court documents said. 

Masood’s Brush With ISIS

Between January 2020 and March 2020, Masood used an encrypted messaging application in which he indicated on several occasions that he wanted to “make hijrah”. The term is commonly used to declare the desire to travel to territories controlled by ISIS for “jihad”, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) documents stated, reported The New York Times. He pledged his allegiance to the designated terrorist organisation and its leader.

He had also expressed his desire to conduct “lone wolf” attacks in the US. In a conversation with the informants, Masood had expressed that he was “sick” of living in the US and wanted to carry out lone-wolf terrorist attacks, The New York Times quoted an affidavit. 

Masood, in February 2020 purchased a plane ticket from Chicago, Illinois, to Amman, Jordan from where he planned to travel to Syria. However, due to the coronavirus pandemic, Masood’s travel plans changed in March because Jordan had closed its borders to incoming travel due to the pandemic. 

Masood then decided to fly from Minneapolis to Los Angeles to meet up with an individual who, he believed, would assist him with travel in a cargo ship to reach ISIS territory. At travelled from Rochester to Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport (MSP) where Masood was arrested by the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force.