A Canadian citizen who traveled to Syria to join the Islamic State group nearly a decade ago pleaded guilty Friday to serving as one of the organization’s more prominent English-language propagandists.
Mohammed Khalifa, 38, pleaded guilty to conspiring to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization, resulting in death, at a hearing in U.S. District Court in Alexandria. U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III accepted the plea.
According to court records, Khalifa left Canada for Syria in 2013 after being inspired by the lectures of Anwar al-Awlaki, a U.S. cleric who later became a leading figure in al Qaeda.
Prosecutors said Khalifa narrated two notorious Islamic State propaganda videos — “Flames of War” in 2014 and “Flames of War II” in 2017 — designed to recruit Westerners to join the Islamic State or to kill Westerners as part of an international holy war campaign.
Khalifa also fought on the battlefield, according to prosecutors. He was captured by Syrian Defense Forces in 2019 and held overseas until he was brought to Virginia earlier this year to face charges.
According to an FBI affidavit, Khalifa told FBI agents he expected to be sent to an Islamic State training camp when he joined the organization in late 2013.