Repatriated ISIS fighter, 23, who was radicalized in Texas before spending five years with the Islamic State in Syria and marrying a jihadi bride, pleads guilty to terrorism
An American man who fought with the Islamic State in Syria for five years before being captured and sent home, has pleaded guilty to terrorism charges, the Justice Department announced on Wednesday.
Texas-born Omer Kuzu, 23, was returned to the U.S. last March after he and 1,500 other suspected ISIS fighters were captured by Syrian Democratic Forces.
Kuzu, who was radicalized in the States, had spent five years providing communications support for the jihadist group and working at the Caliphate's technology center, prosecutors said.
Kuzu admitted to traveling with his brother Yusef to Turkey on October 16, 2014, where they connected with people linked to the Islamic State and were smuggled across the border into Syria in an 'ISIS taxi' and then to IS-held territory in Iraq.
Suspected Islamic State members are seen in a prison cell in the northeastern Syrian city of Hasakeh in October 2019. Kuzu was returned to the U.S. after being captured last March
In Mosul, the brothers underwent five days of physical and weapons training led by ISIS instructors before being sent to Raqqah, Syria, where Kuzu started work at the telecommunications directorate, according to charges filed against him.
Shortly thereafter, Kuzu said he pledged allegiance, or 'Bay'ah,' to ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and the Islamic Caliphate. He was given a monthly stipend, a Chinese-made AK 47, and an ISIS bride.
Kuzu was returned to the United States after his capture and first appeared in federal court in Texas on August 1, 2019.
After pleading guilty to one count of conspiring to provide material support to a terror group, Kuzu faces up to 20 years in prison.
His sentencing is set for January 22, 2021.
'This defendant, an American citizen radicalized on American soil, pledged allegiance to a brutal terrorist group and traveled halfway across the world to enact its agenda,' U.S. Attorney Erin Nealy Cox for the Northern District of Texas said on Wednesday.
'The United States must do everything we can to prevent and deter this type of radicalization and prioritize prosecution of those that support the terroristic agenda.'
Assistant Attorney General John Demers said the Kuzu case was an example of the United States being willing to repatriate its nationals who join the outlawed jihadist group in Iraq and Syria.
Washington has assailed allies in Europe for refusing to repatriate and try their own nationals who joined ISIS - and who are now sitting in prison camps in Iraq and Syria.
'We hope countries around the world, including our European allies and partners, will likewise take responsibility for their own citizens who traveled to support ISIS.' Demers said.