Washington: A Pakistani national in the US was on Thursday sentenced to five years of imprisonment on charges of providing material support to terrorists.
Mohammad Hassan Khalid, 20, a Pakistani citizen and lawful permanent resident living in Maryland state, participated in a scheme to support, recruit and coordinate members of a conspiracy in their plan to wage violent jihad in and around Europe. He had pleaded guilty on May 4, 2012.
The Justice Department alleged, Khalid conspired with Jamie Paulin-Ramirez and Colleen LaRose, known as "Jihad Jane", who were charged separately, in a conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists.
LaRose also pleaded guilty to conspiracy to kill in a foreign country, making false statements and attempted identity theft and was sentenced to 10 years in prison; Paulin-Ramirez pleaded guilty to conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists and was sentenced to eight years in prison.
Khalid`s co-defendant, Ali Charaf Damache, "The black flag," an Algerian man who resided in Ireland, is in custody in Ireland, pending extradition to the US.
As part of the conspiracy, Khalid, Damache, LaRose, and others recruited men online to wage violent jihad in South Asia and Europe.
In addition, Khalid, Damache, LaRose, and others allegedly recruited women who had passports and the ability to travel to and around Europe in support of violent jihad, the Department of Justice alleged.
For example, in July 2009, Khalid posted or caused to be posted an online solicitation for funds to support terrorism on behalf of LaRose and later sent electronic communications to multiple online forums requesting the deletion of all posts by LaRose after she was questioned by the FBI.
In August 2009, Khalid sent a questionnaire to LaRose in which he asked another potential female recruit about her beliefs and intentions with regard to violent jihad.
In addition, Khalid received and concealed the location of a US passport that LaRose had stolen from another individual, the Justice Department said.
