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17-year-old boy ran influential Islamic State Twitter account from Virginia

Jun 15, 2015 6:04 pm By Robert Spencer

ISIS Teen pleads guiltyAnd he received at least one parcel sent from the Islamic State. How many more young men like Ali Shukri Amin are still operating in the U.S.?

More on this story. “The Story Behind ‘AmreekiWitness,’ The 17-Year-Old Tech-Savvy Virginian Who Ran An ISIS Twitter Account,” by Erica Wenig, Daily Caller, June 15, 2015:

Recently, news that an Islamic State Twitter personality was actually a local 17-year-old boy shocked a Virginia community. Now, as officials reveal court documents, the public is coming to a better understanding of all that occurred in the lead up to the FBI’s raid on this boy’s operation.

The FBI confiscated a package in early January that was bound for a the 17 year-old, straight from the Islamic State. But the contents weren’t meant for him — rather, he intended to pass it on to an 18 year-old companion who would later join the terror network in Syria.

A smartphone with international capability, a USB thumb drive and handwritten letter in English and Arabic were inside the package, delivered to Ali Shukri Amin, according to his plea in federal court Thursday.

Despite the FBI confiscating the parcel, alerted to Amin’s support for the Islamic State last November, contact Reza Niknejad boarded an international flight early this year, leaving only a letter and USB thumb drive for his family to indicate he’d never return.

An unidentified accomplice drove Amin and Niknejad to Dulles International Airport on January 14. Niknejad’s flight was bound for Greece but included a layover in Istanbul, Turkey. Amin advised Niknejad on how to meet up with Islamic State supporters once in Turkey and cross into the terror group’s territory in Syria, according to the plea.

Niknejad was last seen by family on the 14th, when he said he was going camping with an unknown friend. After his departure, Amin and the other accomplice gave Niknejad’s family a letter and thumb drive, according to plea documents obtained by The Daily Caller News Foundation. Niknejad’s family were unable to be reached for comment.

An Islamic State supporter sent Amin a message via an encrypted messenger called Surespot on Jan. 16, confirming Niknejad had successfully crossed into Syria with other Islamic State supporters.

Niknejad called his mother shortly after joining the terror group and said “he would ‘fight against these people who oppress the Muslims’ and that he would see her in the afterlife,” according to FBI allegations.

Amin, formerly an honor student at Osbourn Park High School in Manassas, was arrested in February. He would’ve graduated this week, according to a statement by Defense Attorney Joseph Flood. Instead, he pleaded guilty as an adult to conspiring to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization. He faces up to 15 years in prison when sentenced in August[.]

The Manassas teen admitted to operating a pro-Islamic State Twitter account, using the handle @AmreekiWitness, Amreeki meaning “American” in Arabic. Amin opened the account last June, tweeted over 7,000 times and once had 4,000 followers.

He wrote about tactics to funnel money to the Islamic State, suggesting Bitcoin as an option. In mid-August, Amin tweeted the Islamic State needed an official website “ASAP” and that it shouldn’t release information “into the wild,” according to his plea.

Amin also operated a pro-jihad blog and ask.fm page, using them to proselytize radical Islam. On his blog, Amin suggested ways for Islamic State supporters to communicate securely online, using encryption and anonymity software.

Last September, Amin began trying to convert Niknejad to radical Islam. Three months later, he connected Niknejad with an Islamic State supporter abroad via Surespot in order to facilitate his travel to the terror group. Amin also arranged for the Islamic State sympathizer to send the package to the U.S.

Both males involved were born abroad — Amin in Sudan and Niknejad in Iran. They moved to the U.S. in their early youth and became naturalized U.S. citizens, according to The Washington Post.

Niknejad attended the same high school as Amin — Osbourn Park High School. He graduated in 2014, according to Phil Kavits, communications director for Prince William County Public Schools, who spoke to The Daily Caller News Foundation. The person who drove Amin and Niknejad to the airport was identified as a 17 year-old who attended the same high school….

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Filed Under: American jihadis, Featured, Islamic State (aka ISIS, ISIL, Daesh) Tagged With: Ali Shukri Amin, Reza Niknejad


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Comments

  1. Angemon says

    Jun 15, 2015 at 6:41 pm

    He faces up to 15 years in prison when sentenced in August

    He’ll probably get much less than that.

  2. VRWC member77 says

    Jun 15, 2015 at 7:01 pm

    Indeed. You execute this person. I don’t care if he or she is 7 or 70, you execute this person. Anyone who actively supports a group that murders people by beheading, burning, live burial, eye gouging, throwing someone of a building top, stoning and so-on needs to be executed. No prison time…..just a bullet to the head.

  3. mortimer says

    Jun 16, 2015 at 12:09 am

    RADICAL ISLAMIC CHIC is the predominant subculture among Muslim youth in the West. CAN OUR TEACHERS, SOCIAL WORKERS, POLICE, JAIL GUARDS, PSYCHOLOGISTS and SHOP KEEPERS not see this?

    Are they willfully blind? Are they too lazy to use their eyes?

    The Muslim youth in the West are enraging themselves with hatred directed against the HOST CULTURES!

    Can no one see it? Should the intelligence communities not alarm the politicians about this? Are they all blind too?

    • Alex says

      Jun 16, 2015 at 12:53 am

      Exactly, Mortimer. But I don’t blame these muslim kids. I blame their parents for teaching them Islam and bringing them up in an islamic manner (thus full of violence and hatred)

      Bottom line, Islam should be banned and considered illegal. I guarantee that would fix this type of problem (kids radicalizing). I know it’s not a realistic solution, but one could argue that it would make perfect sense.

      • SandyInIndy says

        Jun 17, 2015 at 11:31 am

        We abandoned our kids a long, long time ago. I have no idea, and would hate to know, what life would be like had my Mom’s “career” been more important than raising me… If I believed in nothing that could comfort and keep me safe: God and religion. If I was taught to believe I was not responsible for my own actions. If I was taught that America was a ruthless, whore country and that our Fore-fathers violently took whatever they wanted… If my entire world was simmered in evil, I would, as it IS HUMAN NATURE, look for something that could shield and KEEP ME SAFE from all the evil deeds my country stood for from the very beginning.
        .
        I am thankful for my Mom, the Golden rule and religion she taught me and the country/education that taught me that I could do/be anything I WORKED for and earned.
        .
        Sadly for kids, their butts have been kicked to the curb repeatedly starting with parents.

      • Lilithwept says

        Jun 17, 2015 at 1:55 pm

        Alex, i have been saying the same thing. We need to look for a way to remove Islam from its protection as a religion and ban it as treasonous and seditious…..maybe concentrating on the fact that it is more socio-political than religious, and its core texts and the basic tennants of the religion are hostile to the Constitution,Bill of Rights and American system of laws. It says plain and simple that all muslims are obligated to work towards the overthrow of non muslim goverments so that can be replaced with Islamic goverments, that man made goverments like democracy are un Islamic and thatvthe only go goverment should be Allah’s laws and rules…..it doesnt get any more obvious than this. Butbthe Left and current administration will NEVER even think about banning Islam. We all know how obama fafors Islam, giving it special and preferential treatment that is not given to any other religion.
        We need to elect a president that is anti obama and everything he stands for, anti Islam and pro christian, pro Israel, conservative and not afraid to be strong, ruthless and do what needs doing.

      • q says

        Jul 8, 2015 at 8:47 pm

        Lol I cant believe how ignorant u are. That wud just enrage the youth more and radicalise them even further.
        IS wouldn’t even need to bother radicalising the youth as your policy would have done a better job than they cud eva do!

  4. Mark says

    Jun 16, 2015 at 1:17 am

    I wonder if there might also be a connection to the Islamic Saudi Academy in Alexandria. Might be a good idea for somebody to start following chains of association to see how big this could be. I’m not at all surprised this happened in the DC Metro area though.

  5. Michael Copeland says

    Jun 16, 2015 at 7:42 am

    Memo to Erica Wenig, and the Daily Caller:
    Radical Islam = Islam.

  6. Always On Watch says

    Jun 16, 2015 at 8:09 am

    I live here in Northern Virginia and can tell all here at this thread that this story has received very little coverage on the part of the local news.

    Ostriches abound!

  7. katnis says

    Jun 17, 2015 at 2:50 am

    Stop more people like this from entering the country. Vote for Trump?

  8. Lioness says

    Jun 17, 2015 at 11:09 am

    How many of these traitors will sit in jail, courtesy of the tax payers? Why not ship them to ISIS – a one-way ticket to Syria is cheap – rather than support them for 20 years in prison? A trial alone, with court appointed lawyer, costs millions. Doesn’t make sense.

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