Burke ISIS Sympathizer Guilty of Scouting D.C.-Area Landmarks

ALEXANDRIA, VA — A 26-year-old Burke man pleaded guilty Monday to charges he attempted to help the Islamic State (ISIS or ISIL) target selected landmark locations around the D.C. area last spring, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

Haris Qamar, duped by a sting operation, faces a maximum of 20 years in prison when sentenced Jan. 6

"Mr. Qamar attempted to help ISIL encourage lone wolf attacks in our nation’s capital," said Dana J. Boente, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. "Ensuring the safety of our community is the top priority of my office, and we will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to locate, identify and prosecute those who choose to engage in terrorist activities."

Officials say that on May 26, Qamar and an FBI confidential witness discussed ISIL’s need of photos of possible targets in and around D.C. for use in a video that ISIL was purportedly making to encourage lone- wolf attacks in the area.

Qamar offered the witness ideas of where to take these photographs, including the Pentagon and numerous landmarks in Arlington and D.C., which could be targeted for terrorist attacks, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

On June 3, a conversation was audio and video recorded when the witness picked up Qamar in a vehicle and they drove to area landmarks on the list Qamar had developed, the Justice Department said. Qamar allegedly said “bye bye DC, stupid ass kufar, kill’em all.” Qamar and the confidential witness met again on June 10 and drove to a location in Arlington to take additional photos for the ISIL video.

The FBI first learned of Qamar as he operated more than 60 variations of the Twitter handle “newerajihadi,” which Qamar used to express his support of ISIL and share videos and photos of extreme violence, including beheadings and mass shootings, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.

For example, after terrorists murdered employees of the Charlie Hebdo magazine in Paris in January 2015, Qamar tweeted his prayer for another similar attack with even more casualties.

According to a statement of facts, on Sept. 11, 2015, terrorists connected with ISIL posted a “kill list” to the internet containing the names and addresses of U.S. military members, and a few days later Qamar told an undercover agent that the residences of several service members who appeared on the “kill list” were near Qamar’s own home, and that Qamar had observed undercover police cars near those residences.

On Sept. 16, 2015, Qamar tweeted his prayer that Allah “give strength to the mujahideen to slaughter every single US military officer.”

Officials said Qamar told the agent he tried to join ISIL in 2014 and purchased a plane ticket from Newark, N.J. to Istanbul, Turkey. However, Qamar did not show up for the flight because his parents prevented him from going by taking his passport.

Qamar said his parents threatened to notify law enforcement and said that he fought with his father and called his father a traitor to Islam. On Nov. 18, 2015, the agent asked Qamar if his father gave him back his passport would he go and join ISIL? Qamar said if that happened, "I’m done, I leave."

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