Ali Shukri Amin, a Virginia teenager, pleaded guilty as an adult on Thursday for helping a high school classmate get to Syria in the hopes of joining ISIS, according to law enforcement officials, NBC News reported.
It will be the first time an American teen has been convicted of aiding the Islamic State militant organization. The case is also unusual because juveniles are rarely prosecuted in a federal court.
Law enforcement officials detained Amin, 17, in March for using his computer to establish with members of the terrorist group overseas and also helped make travel arrangements for an 18-year-old fellow classmate named Reza Niknejad, who is now believed to be a member of the ISIS in Syria. Amin pleaded guilty as an adult to charges of conspiring to provide material support to Islamic State, officials said, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Assistant Attorney General John Carlin said that Amin managed a popular pro-Islamic State Twitter account that encouraged the terrorist organization and its supporters. According to court documents, he also pushed people to use bitcoin, a virtual currency, to send funds to ISIS.
"Around the nation, we are seeing ISIL use social media to reach out from the other side of the world," Carlin said. "Their messages are reaching America in an attempt to radicalize, recruit and incite our youth and others to support ISIL's violent causes. This case serves as a wake-up call that ISIL's propaganda and recruitment materials are in your communities and being viewed by your youth."
Amin could receive a maximum prison sentence of 15 years, although he could be looking at less jail time due to his age among other factors.
