By Michael Martinez and Stella Chan
CNN
SANTA ANA (CNS) – An Orange County man convicted of attempting to aid an Islamic terrorist group was sentenced today to 30 years in federal prison. Nader Salem Elhuzayel was convicted June 21 along with co-defendant Muhanad Elfatih M.A. Badawi, who is scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 17. Elhuzayel was the first defendant convicted at trial to be sentenced in a so-called ISIL “travel case,” U.S. District Judge David O. Carter noted as he handed down the punishment. Elhuzayel was also convicted of 26 counts of bank fraud. Carter went through a lengthy detailing of Elhuzayel’s social-media declarations in support of the Islamic State before obtaining a ticket to Istanbul. The judge noted that the most important “ingredient” for the militant group was young warriors for the cause, adding that “what strikes this court” was the defendant’s willingness to die for his cause. Elhuzayel’s “constant” references to martyrdom “makes you extremely dangerous,” Carter told the defendant.
The judge also noted that when Elhuzayel was arrested, he was carrying personal information about Defense Department employees. “Those documents were leaked to the government so everyone had access to them,” Elhuzayel said, interrupting the judge. “There is no remorse, no repudiation of ISIL, only the message of death and destruction,” Carter responded. The judge ordered the defendant to pay $3,376.14 in restitution and ordered lifetime supervised release, telling Elhuzayel that his “greatest concern is you’ll be 55 and you’ll still have vigor” when released from prison. Earlier in the hearing, the defendant interrupted Assistant U.S. Attorney Judith Heinz as she was detailing much of the same evidence Carter recounted, including Elhuzauel’s previous conviction for resisting arrest as he was being evicted from his family’s home, which fell into foreclosure. “I would like to note all I did was resist,” he said. “I am a good guy. I am not bad. I am not evil. I am a good guy. I say that with my heart. Love you, mom and dad.” In his statement to the judge before sentencing, the Israeli citizen stuck with his story that he had been headed to Israel to marry a woman he had met online.
Elhuzayel’s father lashed out at Carter and prosecutors after the hearing, saying his son was just offering his opinions and had not committed any crimes. “He never contacted any terrorist group or provided any material help to anybody,” Salem Elhuzayel said. “He’s a peace-loving person. We have a judge who is definitely racist.” He accused prosecutors of “fabricating a story.” Defense attorney Pal Lengyel-Leahu asked Carter for mercy, saying his client turned to religion when he faced ostracism from American and Israeli youths as he lived in both countries with dual citizenship.
“He looked different, he acted different, he was from over there,” Lengyel-Leahu said. The attorney argued that decades behind bars would be “inhumane,” saying his client did not pose any danger to anyone because “all he had was a plan to make a plan.” During the trial, prosecutors characterized Elhuzayel and co-defendant Badawi as obsessively praising Islamic militants in Iraq and Syria on social media as they shared photos of beheadings of “unbelievers.” Badawi’s attorney, Kate Corrigan, conceded that her client engaged in a great deal of “un-American” and at times “repulsive” speech, but said Badawi “was a lot of talk and absolutely no action.” She claimed her client was duped by a dishonest Elhuzayel about what he intended to do with money Badawi loaned him. Elhuzayel’s attorney, meanwhile, argued that his client should be acquitted on the legal technicality that the United States did not recognize the Islamic State as a terrorist organization at the time of the defendant’s arrest.
Elhuzayel used the ISIS flag as his profile picture on a Facebook account, according to prosecutors, who said Badawi in October 2014 made a video of Elhuzayel swearing allegiance to the leader of ISIS, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, and pledging to travel to Syria to be an ISIS fighter. In March 2015, Badawi received a $2,865 Pell grant, which prosecutors said he used two months later to purchase a one-way airline ticket for Elhuzayel from Los Angeles International Airport to Tel Aviv, Israel, with a six-hour layover in Istanbul. Elhuzayel, who operated a scheme to rip off banks by depositing stolen checks into his personal accounts and then withdrawing cash from automated teller machines, was arrested at the airport.