Bay Shore Man Sentenced to 13 Years in Prison For Attempting to Join Terrorist Organization: U.S. Attorney

A man who attempted to join the terrorist organization Al Qaeda back in 2013 was sentenced to 13 years in prison recently, according to the U.S. Attorney.

Justin Kaliebe, an American citizen and resident of both Babylon and Bay Shore, was sentenced to prison and 20 years of supervised release with special conditions (including computer monitoring, a prohibition on contact with jihadists, search conditions, mental health treatment and a curfew, among others), according to the U.S. Attorney.

In February 2013, Kaliebe, now 22, plead guilty to attempting to travel to Yemen to join the terrorist organization Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.

He faced up to 30 years in prison, but was received a shorter sentence in the federal courthouse in Central Islip by Denis Hurley due to the fact that Kaliebe has autism, according to a report in the New York Post.

“I am very sympathetic to this defendant,” Hurley said during the sentencing. “Besides from the havoc he intended to cause, he is a very nice young man.”

In court last Tuesday Kaliebe was in tears as he apologized for turning to radical Islam in order to escape the bullying he suffered as a child and begged Hurley to give him a chance to "live his life," according to the New York Post report.

“I thought I finally found true friends at the mosque in Bay Shore,” he said according to the New York Post. “I have now renounced Islam. I have chosen to be guided by love.”

According to a June 4, 2012 recorded conversation, which was admitted into evidence during the sentencing hearing, Kaliebe observed that “the crime that they would charge people like us with” was conspiracy “to kill, maim and kidnap in foreign countries,” in reference to a federal criminal statute that has previously been used to charge other individuals who departed or attempted to depart the United States in order to fight jihad abroad.

Later, during that same conversation, Kaliebe stated that, once he arrived in Yemen, he expected to fight the “Yemeni army” and “those who are fighting against the Sharia of Allah . . . whether it’s the U.S. drones or the, their puppets, in the Yemeni army . . . or, who knows, if American agents or whatever, U.S. Special Forces . . . who they got over there.”

When asked if he was afraid to die, Kaliebe responded “I wanna . . . . It’s what anyone would want, any believer would want.” During another recorded conversation described in the government’s sentencing memorandum, which took place on July 9, 2012, he stated that he had been inspired by several sheiks, including “Sheik Usama,” “who showed how he could bring an entire nation to its knees.”

Kaliebe attempted to board a plane to Muscat, Oman, at John F. Kennedy International Airport on January 21, 2013 but was arrested by members of the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force and the NYPD Intelligence Division.

"Kaliebe attempted to turn his back on his country and align with radical terrorists," United States Attorney Loretta Lynch said in a statement back in 2013. "His goal was to travel overseas to wage violent jihad against Yemeni and U.S. forces opposed to alQaeda. Firmly committed to this plan, he found both inspiration and guidance in the online teachings of al-Qaeda leaders, including Osama Bin Laden."

According to Newsday, he was registered in the Babylon School District during the 2012-2013 school year, but never attended classes. The district said in a statement that he was enrolled in the BOCES Alternative High School program and never entered any of the Babylon Schools.