2023-12-30 04:43:25
The US Department of Justice said that a New Jersey man, who was arrested in Kenya, was charged with trying to help the extremist Al-Shabaab movement carry out acts of violence, amid reports that the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7 had “excited him.”
The arrest comes amid a rise in hate incidents, following the war between Israel and Hamas that raised terrorist threat levels in the United States.
The Ministry of Justice said in a statement on Friday that Karim Nasr, an American citizen, was arrested in Nairobi on December 14 and transferred to the United States on Thursday.
The 23-year-old was charged with “attempting to provide material support to a foreign organization classified as a terrorist organization,” a charge that carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, according to what prosecutors announced.
The United States classifies Al-Shabaab as a “foreign terrorist organization.”
US Attorney Damian Williams said: “It is said that Karim Nasr, motivated by the terrorist attack carried out by Hamas on October 7, devoted himself to violent jihad against America and its allies.”
Prosecutors said Nasr traveled to Kenya “intent on joining Al-Shabaab and training with it.”
They added that in communications with a confidential FBI source and online postings, Nasr stated that he had been thinking about “engaging in jihad for a long time, and that the Hamas attack on October 7 was particularly the catalyst for him to become a jihadist.”
The Ministry of Justice said that Nasr took steps to join Al-Shabaab and receive training with it, in addition to planning to meet with members of the movement in Kenya to travel to Somalia to join the group, but the Kenyan authorities arrested him.
The Department of Justice says it is monitoring increasing threats against Jews and Muslims in the United States, due to high levels of hatred linked to the war in the Middle East.
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