Ex-Mayo Clinic Researcher Gets 18 Years For Trying To Join ISIS

ST. PAUL, MN — A former Mayo Clinic researcher was sentenced to 18 years in prison after he tried to join the Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham (ISIS), U.S. Attorney Andrew M. Luger announced Friday.

Muhammad Masood, 31, was a licensed medical doctor in his home country of Pakistan and was formerly employed as a research coordinator in Rochester, Minnesota, according to investigators.

Masood was working in the United States under an H-1B Visa, federal authorities said.

He pleaded guilty on Aug. 16, 2022, to attempting to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization.

Masood’s lawyer, Jordan Kushner, told the New York Times that the sentence was "extremely harsh" because Masood has a history of mental illness.

Between January 2020 and March 2020, Masood used an encrypted messaging application to pledge his allegiance to ISIS and express his desire to conduct "lone wolf" terrorist attacks in the U.S., according to authorities.

On Feb. 21, 2020, Masood purchased a plane ticket from Chicago, Illinois to Amman, Jordan, and from there planned to travel to Syria, authorities said. However, on March 16, 2020, Masood’s travel plans changed because Jordan closed its borders to incoming travel due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Masood then agreed to fly from Minneapolis to Los Angeles to meet up with contacts he thought could help him with travel to ISIS territory in a cargo ship, investigators said. The contacts were government informants.

On March 19, 2020, Masood traveled from Rochester to the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport (MSP) to board a flight bound for Los Angeles. But when Masood checked in for his flight at MSP, he was arrested by the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force.