Parents of Texas Islamic State fighters face jail

A Texas couple have been handed prison terms for lying to police about the activities of their two sons in connection with the Islamic State group, it was reported on Wednesday.

کد خبر: ۷۷۴۴۹۹

تاریخ: ۲۶ بهمن ۱۳۹۶ - ۰۹:۵۷

Prosecutors say 57-year-old Mohommad Ali was sentenced on Tuesday to one year in prison. His wife, 49-year-old Sumaiya Ali, received 30 months.

The Plano couple pleaded guilty last year to making false statements to the FBI related to international terrorism.

Both parents issued apologies after their sentences were read out by the judge.

Prosecutors alleged the couple's adult sons, Arman Ali and Omar Ali, travelled to Syria to fight with the militant group in 2014. Mohammad and Sumaiya Ali were questioned in 2015 by FBI agents and denied knowing their sons were in Syria or associated with the Islamic State group.

According to court documents, Sumaiya was in regular contact with her sons on their whereabouts and shared the information with her husband. In February 2014, she told Omar to "Do what u need to do." He then responded, "[O]k then going to Syria it is," the documents state.

The brothers have been charged with providing a foreign terrorist organisation with material support or resources. Their whereabouts are unclear and it is not known whether they are still alive.

In December it was estimated less than 1,000 IS fighters remained in Syria and Iraq, with the number assumed to have further decreased due to the continued offensive staged against remaining IS strongholds.
It is estimated that 129 US nationals left to fight for IS in Syria and Iraq.

A survey from August 2017 found that 74 percent of Americans deemed the Islamic State group the most dangerous threat faced by the globe.