North Texas man who supported terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba gets 20 years in a move to curb violence both at home and abroad
An 18-year-old man from North Texas was handed over a sentence of 20 years on Monday, September 16, on charges of conspiring to provide material support to Pakistan-based terror organization Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).
US Attorney Erin Nealy Cox for the Northern District of Texas and Assistant Attorney General John C Demers of National Security announced the same. The man, Michael Kyle Sewell, was arrested in February and pleaded guilty to the conspiracy charge in May.
A press release from the Department of Justice, US Attorney's Office, Northern District of Texas, cited Cox as saying that the case showed how an American citizen could be radicalized by a violent ideology based on hate.
He also said the case exhibited how the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and those in the Joint Terrorism Task Force tried hard to prevent violence both at home and abroad. He hailed justice in the Northern District as swift.
Assistant Attorney General Demers said on the other hand: “Sewell conspired with another individual to provide material support to LeT and assisted his co-conspirator with his plans to travel overseas to join the terrorist organization. Today’s sentence provides just punishment for his crime.”
FBI Special Agent in Charge Matthew J DeSarno said fighting terrorism remains the agency's top priority even after 18 years since the 9/11 attacks. He said in this case, a natural-born American citizen helped recruit a fellow American to fight for a group that has carried out "unspeakable violence across South Asia".
Arrested teenager found to be making online statements backing violent extremism
US District Judge Reed O’Connor sentenced the teenager Sewell who was found to be making statements online backing violent extremism. He posted numerous messages threatening to target individuals and gatherings who he believed were against his radical thoughts.
The man also allegedly trying to find ways to carry out such attacks. Agents even discovered an AR-15 style rifle, multiple magazines and knives from Sewell’s bedroom.
According to court documents, Sewell admitted that he encouraged an individual (identified as 'cc1') to join the LeT. He provided the co-conspirator, who he spoke to on social media, with the contact information for an individual he thought could facilitate the co-conspirator's travel to Pakistan to join the terror organization.
To the shock of Sewell and the co-conspirator, the facilitator turned out to be an undercover FBI employee.
Sewell reportedly coached the co-conspirator about how to present himself to the facilitator but then asked the facilitator to vouch for the co-conspirator’s intentions and promised that he would kill the co-conspirator if he was found to be a spy.
Sewell also informed the facilitator that he would recruit more fighters to join the LeT. The co-conspirator continued to have talks with the facilitator and also made arrangements to go to Pakistan to join the terror platform led by Hafiz Saeed.
Pakistan cracked down on LeT chief Hafiz Saeed under international pressure
Formed in 1990, LeT came under pressure from none other than Pakistan authorities in July when Islamabad announced a crackdown against Saeed whose outfit is blamed for the deadly terror attacks in Mumbai, India, in November 2008 (six Americans were killed in that tragedy), amid growing international pressure.
Pakistan's counter-terrorism department said it had launched 23 cases against Saeed and 12 aides for using trusts to collect funds and donations for the LeT. Two banned LeT-linked bodies — Jamaat-ud-Dawa and Falah-i-Insaniat Foundation — were also targeted.
While the move was in accordance with United Nations sanctions against individuals and entities, it was following the pressure from the Financial Action Task Force which had put Pakistan last year on its "grey list" of countries for inadequate control over money-laundering and terror-financing.
Hafiz is designated a global terrorist by both the UN and US and Washington has offered a reward worth $10 million for obtaining evidence that could lead to his conviction.
In December 2001, just months after the US launched its global war on terror, the LeT was added to its treasury department’s Office of Foreign Asset Control list which features names of organizations that are believed to back terrorist groups and have assets under America's jurisdiction that can be frozen or controlled.
America cautious about radicalized individuals after David Coleman Headley
American authorities' concern over Sewell's was understandable since after the 2008 attacks, one of the most important names that had emerged was of David Coleman Headley alias Dawood Sayed Gilani — a Chicago-based Pakistani-American who was among the conspirators with the LeT to launch the devastating attacks that saw over 160 people dead.
Headley visited Pakistan several times between 2002 and 2005 and worked as a double agent. He even made five spying missions to Mumbai for a recce. In July 2018, Headley video-deposed before a court where he reiterated that Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence was behind the Mumbai attacks.
He was flanked by FBI officials and his lawyers as he deposed from the US. He is currently serving a 35-year prison term in America for his role in planning the November 2008 terrorist attacks and also a proposed attack on a newspaper in Denmark.