Narrator of ISIS Videos Flown to U.S. To Face Terrorism Charge

Politics|Canadian Man Who Narrated ISIS Videos Flown to U.S. To Face Terrorism Charge

WASHINGTON — A Canadian antheral who narrated 2 infamous propaganda videos that the Islamic State utilized to enlistee Westerners and to promote coercion attacks was secretly whisked to the United States to look national prosecution successful Virginia.

The man, Mohammed Khalifa, 38, a Canadian who traveled to Syria successful 2013 and aboriginal joined the Islamic State, was charged with worldly coercion enactment that resulted successful death, according to a transgression ailment made nationalist connected Saturday. He was captured successful aboriginal 2019 by a Kurdish-led militia, the Syrian Democratic Forces, which is backed by the United States.

The militia handed implicit Mr. Khalifa to F.B.I. agents this week, and helium was flown to the United States. Mr. Khalifa, who was calved successful Saudi Arabia, appears to beryllium the archetypal overseas combatant to beryllium prosecuted successful the United States during the Biden administration. He is scheduled to marque an archetypal quality successful tribunal aboriginal adjacent week.

Mr. Khalifa was the dependable of a 2014 ISIS video known arsenic “Flames of War.” The portion helium worked for was liable for publicizing specified brutal footage arsenic the beheading of the American writer James Foley and different Western hostages.

Prosecutors said Mr. Khalifa “played an important relation successful the accumulation and dissemination of ISIS propaganda crossed aggregate media platforms targeting Western audiences.”

In a 2019 interview with The New York Times conducted from a situation successful northeast Syria, Mr. Khalifa claimed helium played nary relation successful the existent killings carried retired by the Islamic State.

“I was conscionable the voice,” Mr. Khalifa said. He added successful the interrogation that helium did not regret what helium had done.

Although Mr. Khalifa played down his contributions to the Islamic State successful the interview, prosecutors and the F.B.I. made wide helium was a “prominent figure” wrong the Islamic State media unit, which helium joined successful April 2014. An F.B.I. cause described him arsenic “essential” due to the fact that of his fluency successful Arabic and English and said helium was successful complaint of the Islamic State’s “English Media Section,” according to the transgression complaint

Prosecutors said that helium assisted successful the translation and narration of astir 15 videos that were created and distributed by the Islamic State. Two of the astir “influential and exceedingly violent” propaganda videos, prosecutors said, were called “Flames of War: Fighting Has Just Begun” and “Flames of War II: Until the Final Hour.” The archetypal was distributed successful September 2014 and the 2nd successful November 2017.

According to tribunal documents, Mr. Khalifa was engaged successful warring — not conscionable a propagandist. In the days earlier his seizure by the Syrian Democratic Forces, helium threw “grenades against opposing combatants,” prosecutors said.

Mr. Khalifa’s apprehension is the latest illustration of F.B.I. agents and national prosecutors astatine the U.S. attorney’s bureau successful Alexandria pursuing Islamic State terrorists and bringing them to Virginia to look charges contempt the galore complications associated with these types of planetary coercion cases.

Last month, Alexanda Kotey, 37, who was portion of an ISIS compartment of 4 Britons called “the Beatles,” pleaded blameworthy to aggregate charges, including conspiracy to perpetrate hostage taking resulting successful decease and conspiracy to execution U.S. citizens extracurricular the United States.

Another subordinate of the aforesaid cell, El Shafee Elsheikh, has pleaded not guilty.