Alexandria Man Convicted For Material Support To ISIS

ALEXANDRIA, VA -- An Alexandria man was convicted Wednesday of providing material support to the Islamic State.

Mohamad Khweis, 27, was convicted on three counts: providing and conspiring to provide material support or resources to ISIS, and a firearms count.

Khweis grew up in northern Virginia and is a 2007 graduate of Edison High School in the Alexandria area of Fairfax County. He had worked as a bus driver for the region’s Metro system, according to court documents. He left the U.S. in 2015 and was smuggled across the Syrian border by the ISIS. In February, U.S. military forces found his intake form and his name on an ISIS camp roster.

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According to prosecutors, Khweis coordinated with ISIS members to securely travel into Syria through Turkey. Prosecutors say he went through a formal intake process and agreed to serve as a suicide bomber. Khweis' lawyers say he attempted to flee after about three months with ISIS.

Kurdish forces captured Khweis at a Tal Afar, Iraq battlefield near an ISIS-controlled area and found he had a Virginia driver's license. He was taken to a Kurdish prison, and his lawyers said he was willing to return to the U.S., even if he faced criminal charges.

During the trial, he admitted to spending about two and a half months with ISIS, taking training in Islamic law and traveling to safe houses with ISIS militants. He said he had previously lied about his involvement with ISIS and had failed to mention another American's training with ISIS to carry out an attack in the U.S.

Khweis faces five years to life in prison. He will be sentenced on Oct. 13.

Image via Tim Evanson/Flickr, used under Creative Commons