A former New York City resident was sentenced Friday to life in prison for providing material support to the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), according the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York.
Mirsad Kandic, 41, was convicted back in May 2022 on one count of conspiracy to provide material support to ISIS and five substantive counts of providing material support to ISIS, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York.
Kandic “took a two-day Greyhound bus ride from New York City to Monterrey, Mexico, in November 2013,” and then flew into Syria via multiple countries at the end of 2013 and became an ISIS fighter, the statement noted. Thereafter, he became a weapons smuggler and propagandist for the terror group, disseminating videos of ISIS executions via Twitter, and prolifically recruiting “thousands of radicalized ISIS volunteer fighters from Western countries into ISIS-controlled territories.” (RELATED: Florida Man Bags 18 Years In Jail For Providing Material Support To ISIS)
“Prolific recruiter of foreign fighters for #ISIS” #MirsadKandic who was arrested in #Sarajevo, #Bosnia in 2017 was sentenced in the United States to life in prison https://t.co/OXijSKiAQG
— N1english (@N1info) July 15, 2023
One of Kandic’s recruits was 46-year-old fellow New Yorker Ruslan Maratovich Asainov, a convicted ISIS sniper who is awaiting sentencing, the statement noted. Another was an 18-year old Australian, Jake Bilardi, who killed himself and more than 30 Iraqi officers in a suicide truck attack in Ramadi, Iraq. Before the attack, Kandic reportedly wished Bilardi well, stating, “May Allah make there [sic] inner organs implode,” and celebrated Bilardi’s fatal attack on Twitter, per the statement.
Kandic also worked with the top echelon of ISIS as a military strategist, media strategist and financial manager. He was arrested in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, in June 2017, per the statement. He had been hiding there under a pseudonym, the Voice of America noted.
Kandic was a legal U.S. permanent resident, and a former resident of Brooklyn, New York, according to court documents.
“Today’s sentence holds the defendant accountable for his conduct and ensures that he will never again pose a threat to the United States or any of our allies. This Office will remain relentless in prosecuting terrorists who threaten the safety and security of the United States and U.S. interests around the world,” Breon Peace, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said, per the statement.