Young black woman who plotted to join ISIS with Muslim fiancé, sentenced to 12 years in prison
A 20-year-old Mississippi woman has been jailed for conspiring with her Muslim fiance to join the Islamic State group.
Jaelyn
Young, a former Mississippi University student and daughter of a former
Navy seal, who sought to disguise a planned honeymoon to join ISIS was
sentenced by a federal
judge on Thursday to 12 years in prison on a terrorism charge.
The honour student at Warren Central High School broke down in heavy sobs during her
sentencing by U.S. District Judge Sharion Aycock. Young pleaded guilty
in March to one count of conspiring to provide material support to a
terrorist organization.
Young had faced up to 20 years in prison. Her parents pleaded for leniency at Thursday's hearing. Young, amid sobs, said she was ashamed of her actions.
Her fiance, Muhammad Dakhlalla, pleaded guilty March 11 to a similar
charge and is set to be sentenced Aug. 24. Prosecutors have said Young,
who converted to Islam while studying at Mississippi State University,
had prodded Dakhlalla into the plan.
The two were arrested in 2015 before boarding a flight from Columbus, Mississippi, with tickets for Istanbul, Turkey.
"I found the contacts, made arrangements, planned the departure,"
Young had written in a farewell letter to her family. "I am guilty of
what you soon will find out."
Young and Dakhlalla were among a number of people arrested around the
country for Islamic State sympathies. Like many, authorities said, they
had developed views supporting the Islamic State in part by watching
online videos and were arrested after social media posts attracted the
attention of the FBI.
The two were arrested in August 2015 before they could board the
flight from Mississippi with tickets for Istanbul purchased using her
mother's credit card without permission, according to court records.
Authorities said the couple had contacted undercover federal agents in
May, seeking online help in traveling to Syria. Both remained jailed in
Oxford since their arrests.
Court papers say Young announced her conversion in March 2015 and
began wearing a burqa, a garment worn by some Muslim women to cover
their face and body.
"After her conversion, Young distanced herself from
family and friends and felt spending time with non-Muslims would be a
bad influence," prosecutors wrote.
A court statement said Young increasingly complained about the
treatment of Muslims in the United States and United Kingdom.
Prosecutors said that, after watching videos included pro-Islamic State
messages from a British Muslim preacher who faces criminal charges of
supporting the group, she began to view the fighters as liberators.
"Young continually asked Dakhlalla when they were going to join (the
Islamic State group) and began to express hatred for the U.S. government
and to express support for the implementation of Sharia law in the
United States," prosecutors wrote.
By May 2015, she had begun seeking advice online on how to travel to
Syria, eventually making contact with undercover FBI employees,
according to prosecutors.
Young told the undercover FBI employees that she and Dakhlalla would
like to be medics treating the wounded. Dakhlalla, in online contacts,
said he was good with computers and media and wanted to contribute to
the Islamic State's struggle. Court papers say Dakhlalla said online
that he wanted to become a fighter and learn "what it really means to
have that heart in battle."
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