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Mohammed Khalifa, a 38-year-outdated Saudi-born Canadian citizen, was captured by Syrian Democratic Forces in January 2019 next a firefight in which he was throwing grenades. Khalifa was just lately transferred to the FBI, a DOJ statement claimed.
The acting US Legal professional for the Jap District of Virginia, Raj Parekh, termed Khalifa the “voice at the rear of the violence.”
“Via his alleged top job in translating, narrating, and advancing ISIS’s on-line propaganda, Khalifa promoted the terrorist team, furthered its worldwide recruitment efforts, and expanded the achieve of films that glorified the horrific murders and indiscriminate cruelty of ISIS,” Parekh stated in the statement.
Khalifa allegedly had worked with the terrorist group for about six years soon after traveling to Syria in 2013 to become a international fighter and worked in its English Media Area, narrating and translating for propaganda. In all, Khalifa translated and narrated about 15 ISIS films, like two extensively observed violent movies titled “Flames of War,” the Justice Division mentioned. He admitted to the FBI in March 2019 that he was the narrator of the 2014 and 2017 “Flames of War” movies, according to the criminal grievance that was unsealed Saturday.
Khalifa also allegedly narrated a sequence of films that encourages “possible recruits to be a part of ISIS and perform terrorist assaults towards non-Muslims,” the complaint says.
“Even though a lot of People in america are conscious of the brutal and violent crimes committed by a lot of ISIS actors, ISIS’ efforts to radicalize persons to journey to Syria and dedicate violence on its behalf were being similarly horrendous,” Steven D’Antuono, a leading official in the FBI’s Washington discipline workplace, reported.
Jason Kung, a spokesperson for World-wide Affairs Canada, reported in a statement the Royal Canadian Mounted Law enforcement is knowledgeable the US has Khalifa in custody “and that he will be going through rates.”
The statement continued: “Considering that this subject is right before the United States Courts, the RCMP is not able to examine the matter. Global Affairs Canada is in make contact with with regional authorities to gather added details. Owing to privateness concerns, no even more info can be disclosed.”
Khalifa spoke about his final decision to leave Canada to struggle in Syria in a 2019 interview with the Canadian Broadcasting Organization.
“I figured that if they knew that I was heading to go and struggle in Syria they’d consider to cease me,” Khalifa reported in the job interview, according to the legal criticism from him. “I had a usual existence again in Canada. I was accomplishing incredibly perfectly for myself and I made the decision to give it up realizing the place I was coming, knowing what I was sacrificing in the course of action.”
He experienced instructed his family members he was heading to Egypt, but later on acknowledged he wished to “be a part of the mujahideen preventing versus Bashar and the Syrian military,” federal authorities reported, citing an e-mail Khalifa sent in 2013.
This story has been current with further facts.
CNN’s Veronica Stracqualursi, Elizabeth Joseph and Artemis Moshtaghian contributed to this report.
