U.S. Air Force veteran gets 35 years for trying to join Islamic State

Record ID: 877495

  • Title: U.S. Air Force veteran gets 35 years for trying to join Islamic State
  • Date: 31st May 2017
  • Summary: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (FILE - MARCH 2015) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF INDICTMENT AGAINST PUGH (MUTE) NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (FILE) (REUTERS) VARIOUS EXTERIORS OF BROOKLYN FEDERAL COURTHOUSE
  • Embargoed: 14th June 2017 22:29
  • Keywords: Islamic State defendant Tairod Pugh court charges.
  • Location: NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES / UNIDENTIFIED LOCATION
  • City: NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES / UNIDENTIFIED LOCATION
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: Crime/Law/Justice,Judicial Process/Court Cases/Court Decisions
  • Reuters ID: LVA0026J67LTZ
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Tairod Pugh, a U.S. Air Force veteran convicted of attempting to join Islamic State, was sentenced to 35 years in prison on Wednesday (May 31) after delivering an impassioned speech in which he maintained his innocence and decried what he called the United States' racism and Islamophobia.
    Pugh's attorney, Susan Kellman, said after the hearing that Pugh would appeal his conviction and sentence.
    Pugh, 49, was found guilty after a week-long trial of attempting to provide material support to a designated terrorist organization, and obstruction for destroying four portable electronic storage devices after his detention in Turkey.
    Prosecutors said Pugh bought a one-way plane ticket from his home in Egypt to Turkey in 2015 planning to cross the Syrian border into territory controlled by the Islamic State. He was detained in an Istanbul airport by Turkish authorities, found carrying maps of Islamic State territory and border crossings into Syria.
    Prosecutors also pointed to a letter addressed to his wife, found on his laptop, in which he vowed to fight for Islam.
    Pugh said on Wednesday he intended to fight the government of Bashar al-Assad in Syria, not join the Islamic State.
    Pugh served as an avionics specialist in the Air Force from 1986 to 1990 and later worked as an Army contractor in Iraq from 2009 to 2010, according to federal prosecutors.
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