Attorney: Dearborn Cleric Popular with ISIS Faces 'Unprecedented Scrutiny'

Ahmad Jebril, 43, of Dearborn, will appear in U.S. District Court Tuesday to explain the orgin of his finances. (Photo via Facebook)

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Recent U.S. District Court filings are trying to get at the root of who is financing a Dearborn cleric who is popular with ISIS fighters from the West.

Attorney Rita Chastang, who represents Ahmad Jebril, 43, said her client has been subjected to an “unprecedented … level of scrutiny” after his 2005 conviction on 42 counts of financial fraud, the Detroit Free Press reports.

Jebril is on probation after serving 6½ years in prison. His probation ends March 30, and Chastang thinks he may face new criminal charges for allegedly lying to authorities about the source of his finances, which the government thinks he may be getting illegally.

Jebril has paid only $3,080 of $250,000 in fines imposed at the time of his conviction, according to a court filing by the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Last summer, the government was given the go-ahead to use the “actions necessary” to collect the money, and he could be held in contempt of court when he appears Tuesday.

Jebril is influential as a cheerleader for ISIS, according to a report released last year by the Centre for the Study of Radicalisation and Political Violence at King’s College in London.

Previously on this topic:

• Feds Go After $250K Owed by Dearborn Cleric with ISIS Influence
• Area Muslims Condemn ISIS as ‘Crazy Criminals’ and ‘A Bunch of Gangsters’

The researchers – three security experts affiliated – concluded after their year-long study that “social media represents an essential source of information and inspiration” to militants, and the conflict in Syria may be the first in history in “in which a large number of western fighters have been documenting their involvement in conflict in real-time.”

The researchers’ findings about Jibril’s growing international following among radical Muslims were troubling enough to prompt the government to ask U.S. District Judge Gerald Rosen in June 204 to restrict Jebril’s travel to eastern Michigan.

Around the time of his arrest, he was being shunned by Muslims in Dearborn, which has the highest concentration of Arab American residents in the United States. His radical views prompted his dismissal from a Dearborn mosque in 2003. He transferred to mosque in Brownstown, but within a month was also banned from prayers there as well.

The U.S. government is now tracking Jebril online, according to court filings.

There’s no evidence that Jebril is a member of ISIS, but researchers in the King’s College study said he was a charismatic cheerleader for jihadist organizations and often peppers his lectures with highly charged religious and sectarian idioms.

“A number of British ISIS fighters have told us that they watched his (Jebril’s) lecture series … before embarking on jihad,” they said, concluding:

“It is clear that (Jebril and Australian preacher Musa Cerantonio, also esteemed by militant Muslims) are important figures whose political, moral and spiritual messages are considered attractive to a number of foreign fighters.”

The new moves against Jebril, filed over the last two months, stem from FBI and other intelligence reports about the growing influence of social media among militant groups like ISIS.

» Read more on the Detroit Free Press.