Earlier today, Abdurasul Hasanovich Juraboev, a citizen of Uzbekistan and resident of Brooklyn, New York, pleaded guilty to conspiring to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization, the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). Today’s plea took place before United States District Judge William F. Kuntz, II. At sentencing, Juraboev faces up to 15 years in prison.
The guilty plea was announced by Acting U.S. Attorney Kelly T. Currie of the Eastern District of New York, Assistant Attorney General for National Security John P. Carlin, Assistant Director in Charge Diego G. Rodriguez of the New York Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Glenn Sorge, Acting Special Agent-in-Charge, Homeland Security Investigations, New York Field Office (HSI) and Commissioner William J. Bratton of the New York City Police Department.
According to previous court filings, in August 2014, Juraboev posted a threat on an Uzbek-language website to kill President Obama in an act of martyrdom on behalf of ISIL. In subsequent interviews by federal agents, Juraboev stated his belief in ISIL’s terrorist agenda, including the establishment by force of an Islamic caliphate in Iraq and Syria. Juraboev stated that he wanted to travel to Syria to fight on behalf of ISIL but lacked the means to travel.
He added that, if he were unable to travel, he would engage in an act of martyrdom on U.S. soil if ordered to do so by ISIL, such as killing the President or planting a bomb on Coney Island.
During the next several months, Juraboev and a co-conspirator discussed plans to travel to Syria to fight on behalf of ISIL, culminating in Juraboev’s purchase on December 27, 2014, of a ticket to travel from John F. Kennedy International Airport in Queens, New York, to Istanbul, Turkey, departing on March 29, 2015.
“The defendant planned to travel to Syria to wage jihad on behalf of ISIL, and was prepared to commit a terrorist attack on American soil if he were not able to make that trip,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Currie. “The defendant’s guilty plea today is a testament to the hard work of the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force in New York to prevent local residents from becoming foreign fighters in Syria or launching terrorist attacks at home.”
