NEW YORK (AP) - A prosecutor told jurors Tuesday that the proof was overwhelming that an Arizona man helped a New York college student join the Islamic State group, while a defense lawyer blamed the student alone for engineering the journey that ended in his death in Syria.
During closing arguments, Assistant U.S. Attorney Negar Tekeei directed jurors to online communications between defendant Ahmed Mohammed el-Gammal, a 44-year-old Phoenix-area man, and Samy el-Goarany, the 24-year-old who was attending a Manhattan school when he went to Syria.
She said they teamed to help “their common cause: providing support to a brutally violent terrorist organization.”
El-Gammal could face decades in prison if he is convicted in Manhattan federal court on charges he provided material support to the Islamic State group. He was arrested in August 2015, months before el-Goarany’s brother was informed that Samy el-Goarany was killed fighting for the Islamic State group.
The prosecutor said El-Gammal and el-Goarany communicated extensively on the internet, including through nearly 1,000 encrypted messages, in the months before el-Goarany flew to Turkey in January 2015 and made his way to Syria days later to begin military training. She said El-Gammal met el-Goarany in New York City for a few days and they spoke in code about the Islamic State group.
She said El-Gammal was “happy to support ISIS while living in the luxuries of the United States while el-Goarany wanted to fight with ISIS.”
Tekeei said the government’s proof was overwhelming and some of it was devastating to El-Gammal, including online communications in which the defendant spoke in code words and said he hoped to join the terror group himself.
Assistant Federal Defender Sabrina Shroff said her client was duped by el-Goarany, just as the student fooled his mother into thinking he wanted to go to Turkey to help provide medical assistance to Syrian refugees.
She said el-Goarany was “plagued by insecurity and malaise” and was looking for a cause to cling to when he found his way to Syria.
Shroff said el-Goarany was stubborn and relentless online, promoting his beliefs because he “believed he was smarter than everybody else.”
“Samy, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, is the only terrorist in this case,” the lawyer said.
Shroff said el-Goarany did poorly with women in the United States but found a 16-year-old girl to marry in Syria before his death.
“He was a soldier on the wrong side and he died utterly unrepentant,” she said.
Shroff conceded that her client said “a lot of stupid things” online and in person but warned that words do not make a crime.
“Mr. El-Gammal is not guilty,” she said. “He did nothing.”
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