A Chicago man was found guilty of using social media to help recruit ISIS operatives and encourage terrorist attacks.
The verdict comes almost six and a half years after Ashraf Al Safoo was first arrested. In a brief hearing Friday afternoon, Judge John Blakey found Al Safoo, 41, guilty of providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization.
“Today’s conviction demonstrates that the safety and security of the American public is always a top priority for me and my entire Office,” Andrew Boutros, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, said in a statement Friday. “We will vigorously pursue and bring to justice those who provide material support — in whatever form — to terrorist organizations.”
Neither Al Safoo nor his attorney spoke in court. As Al Safoo left the courtroom, he smiled and gave a thumbs-up to a group seated in the gallery.
Al Safoo was convicted on 11 total counts that — in addition to providing material support — included conspiracy to intentionally access protected computers and transmit threats through interstate commerce. Al Safoo was acquitted on one count where Blakey found the government failed to prove he had knowingly made payments to one ISIS member. Blakey will issue a more thorough written ruling next week.
“This is not a simple case,” Blakey said Friday. “There are a lot of important things the court has to break down.”
Al Safoo was the leader of the Khattab Media Foundation — a propaganda outfit with a “sworn bayat, or an oath of allegiance, to ISIS,” according to prosecutors. A year before his arrest, Al Safoo invited a purported ISIS sympathizer — who was actually an undercover federal officer — to join a Khattab discussion group. Officers found Al Safoo was creating and disseminating several pieces of ISIS propaganda. One computer-animated video called “Our gifts are ready” depicted families standing around a Christmas tree with a present containing a ticking bomb and a castle resembling Cinderella Castle at Walt Disney World in the background.
A naturalized citizen, Al Safoo was born in Iraq and moved to Chicago in 2008, according to an FBI agent’s affidavit. He has a master’s degree in computer science and worked in IT for a web development company in River North.
Al Safoo’s conviction on 11 total counts carries a maximum sentence of 130 years in prison, according to the United States Justice Department. His sentencing is set for Oct. 9.