A 19-year-old from Texas is facing a possible prison term after he allegedly used a Zoom class meeting to threaten the University of Houston with a bombing.
Prosecutors have filed counts of making threats or conveying false information to destroy by means of fire or explosives as well as making threats over interstate commerce against Ibraheem Ahmed Al Bayati, 19, of Richmond, Texas.
Islam expert Robert Spencer wrote at Jihad Watch that Al Bayati claimed it was all a joke.
"Of course! What else could it be? After all, it isn't as if Ib Raheem Ahmed Al Bayati is a 'far-right extremist' or something really dangerous like that," Spencer wrote.
A report from KPRC explained Al Bayati identified himself as Abu Qital al Jihadi al Mansur and joined a UH student lecture on Sept. 2.
"Officials said he interrupted the lecture by saying, 'What does any of this have to do with the fact that UH is about to get bombed in a few days?' Officials said he then said 'Islamic State will remain' in Arabic and held up his index finger and repeated the phrase 'Dawlatul Islam Baqia,'" the report said.
Students gasped, and then Al Bayati left the Zoom call, the report said.
Spencer explained, "Prepare to hear a great deal in the next few days about 'Islamophobia' at the University of Houston, as the cause of this incident."
He quoted the Quran, which states, "Make ready for them whatever force and strings of horses you can, to strike terror into the enemy of Allah and your enemy, and others besides them that you know not; Allah knows them. And whatever you spend in the way of Allah shall be repaid you in full; you will not be wronged."
KHOU reported the threat was "shocking" to students and staff.
According to Courthouse News, Al Bayati then told FBI agents it "was all a joke."
FBI agent Keith Fogg wrote in an affidavit that he interviewed Al Bayati after the threats.
"He admitted to being on the Zoom call, making the statements, and claimed that the whole thing was a joke, devised by him and a friend."
The bureau discovered that a friend had sent him the link to the Zoom class.
"Fogg also found text messages on Al Bayati's phone in which he bragged to friends that he is known as an Islamic State recruiter," the report said.
ISIS rose to power in Iraq during the administration of Barack Obama and under his foreign policies. "By 2014, the group had taken over more than 39,000 square miles in Iraq and neighboring Syria, once controlling the large Iraqi cities of Fallujah, Mosul and Tikrit," the report explained.
Under the Trump administration, it largely has been removed from most of that territory, still maintaining power exerted by individuals in a few pockets of the Middle East.
The report said in the U.S., 208 people have been charged with counts related to ISIS since March 2014. "Of those, 156 pleaded or were found guilty and were sentenced to an average of 13.3 years in prison."
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