American-born ISIS Member Found Guilty of Conspiracy, Providing Material Support
Rob Dobi | The Atlantic
A federal jury in the Eastern District of New York has found Mirsad Kandic of Brooklyn, New York, guilty of conspiracy and providing material support to the terrorist organization Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) according to the Justice Department.
Kandic attempted to leave the United States to join ISIS during the summer of 2012 according to the testimony of 36 witnesses from six continents; however, the no-fly list prevented him from traveling. He again was denied boarding in January 2013, when he tried to fly directly from Toronto, Canada, to Istanbul, Turkey. In November 2013, the defendant took a Greyhound bus from New York City to Monterrey, Mexico, and then flew to Syria after stopping in Panama, Brazil, Portugal, Germany, Kosovo, and Turkey.
Among Kandic's alleged duties within the terrorist organization included recruiting and transporting foreign fighters, acquiring weapons, military equipment, maps, money, and false identifications for ISIS members, and supporting assailants with battlefield intelligence. As per federal prosecutors, Kandic continued to work for ISIS until his arrest in Bosnia in 2017 when a U.S. extradition order was reportedly issued.
Among those recruited by Kandic was 18-year-old Australian suicide bomber Jake Bilardi, who killed more than 30 Iraqi soldiers and an Iraqi policeman in an attack on March 11, 2015. Kandic went on to praise Bilardi on Twitter following the attack.
Kandic was convicted on Tuesday after a three-week trial and will be sentenced on November 9, 2022. He faces a sentence of up to life in prison.
The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs and the Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI) Legal Attachés were assisted by foreign authorities in multiple countries on three continents in this case.