Abdulkader previously pleaded guilty in March to plotting attacks against a member of the U.S. military and a local police station in support of the Islamic State group.
Abdulkader admitted to aiding a foreign terrorist organization, attempting to murder government employees, and possessing a firearm for the purposes of committing a violent crime.
Benjamin Glassman, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio, had recommended that Abdulkader receive the maximum sentence — a total of 25 years in prison and remain under supervision for the rest of his life.
“This was the first case of its kind that is being sentenced in Cincinnati and it’s not going to be the last unfortunately,” he said. “There are already several other cases pending.”
During the sentencing hearing, Abdulkader’s attorney, Richard Monihan, painted a picture of a 20-year-old who was well liked, generous, smart, respected and of good character, going off track and getting involved with ISIS operatives.
Monihan also advocated for a five-year prison term, citing Abdulkader’s willingness to accept responsibility and eventually pleading guilty to the charges.
As Abdulkader asked the court for mercy, he said, “I know I’m responsible for being involved in these terrible acts … I’m sorry.”
He also said he was not proud of his conduct and apologized to the court and his intended victim.
“After a year and a half, I don’t know how I got in with them,” he said. “I made many bad choices.”
Timothy Mangan, assistant U.S. attorney prosecuting the case, said Abdulkader’s past behavior before getting involved in the ISIS plot didn’t matter. Mangan said Abdulkader made the decision to get involved with ISIL, talked about travelling to Syria, then pivoted to become involved in a terror plot.
“The defendant was the one who reached out to ISIL operatives online and in Syria,” Mangan said. “… Blaming this on a third party is just a red herring.”
Abdulkader was arrested May 21, 2015, the same day he purchased an AK-47 assault rifle for $350 from a Mason gun shop.
He had spent months identifying his intended victims and “was very excited for the confrontation,” according to a sentencing recommendation filed Nov. 10 by federal prosecutors and obtained by this news outlet.
According to prosecutors, he had planned to behead a local soldier — in his correspondence with the third highest ranked Islamic State operative Junaid Hussain, he explicitly requested that it be a person who had served in Iraq or Afghanistan — and film that beheading. Then, he planned to attack a local police station with explosives and firearms, prosecutors said.
“Throw pipe bombs, engage police officers with firearms and fight to the death,” was Abdulkader’s plan, according to the sentencing memorandum. Prior to that, he had obtained a passport to travel to Syria but backed out as other people following that path were arrested at airports.
Abdulkader is a native of Eritrea in East Africa, but he became a citizen of the United States on Sept. 22, 2006. Records indicate he spent several years in southwest Ohio, graduating from Lakota East High School in 2013 and attending Xavier University for about two years where he studied chemistry and business.
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