Pakistani Physician Sentenced to 18 Years in Prison for Attempting to Provide Material Support to ISIS

Muhammad Masood, 31, a licensed medical doctor in Pakistan, worked as a research coordinator at a medical clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.

A Pakistani man has been sentenced to 18 years in prison, followed by five years of supervised release for attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization, the DoJ announced on Aug. 25. Muhammad Masood, 31, a licensed medical doctor in Pakistan, was formerly employed as a research coordinator at a medical clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, under an H-1B visa.

Between January 2020 and March 2020, he “used an encrypted messaging application to facilitate his travel overseas to join a terrorist organization,” according to court documents. He made multiple statements about his desire to join the Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham (ISIS), and he pledged his allegiance to the designated terrorist organization and its leader. He also expressed his desire to conduct “lone wolf” terrorist attacks in the United States, the DoJ said.

On Feb. 21, 2020, Masood purchased a plane ticket from Chicago, Illinois, to Amman, Jordan, and from there, he planned to travel to Syria. He changed his travel plans on March 16, 2020, because Jordan closed its borders to incoming travel due to the coronavirus pandemic.

He then agreed to fly from Minneapolis to Los Angeles to meet up with an individual who he believed would assist him with travel via cargo ship to deliver him to ISIS territory. Three days later, on March 19, 2020, he traveled from Rochester to Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport (MSP) to board a flight bound for Los Angeles, California. He was subsequently arrested by the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force at the airport.