Muslims in Virginia, New York face decades in prison for supporting Houthis, ISIS

By Bethany Blankley
The Center Square

Two cases in Virginia and New York highlight ongoing Islamic terrorist threats at home and abroad, including resulting in the death of two U.S. Navy SEALs.

In Virginia, a Pakistani national, Muhammad Pahlawan, was sentenced to 40 years in prison after his conviction on charges relating to transporting Iranian-made advanced conventional weaponry that led to the death of two U.S. Navy SEALs.

Pahlawan was convicted by a jury in June on multiple charges: conspiring to provide material support and resources to terrorists, to Iran’s weapons of mass destruction program, to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ weapons of mass destruction program, and transporting explosive devices to Iranian-backed Houthis knowing they would be used against a vessel he was on in the Arabian Sea off the coast of Somalia.

During the Biden administration, Iran-backed Houthis attacked merchant ships and U.S. military ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terrorist attacks against Israel. Under the Trump administration, the Houthis were obliterated.

According to court records and evidence presented at trial, from August 2023 through January 2024, Pahlawan worked with two Iranian brothers, Shahab Mir’kazei (Shahab), and Yunus Mir’kazei (Yunus), affiliated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Pahlawan completed multiple smuggling voyages, transporting weapons and materials from Iran to support Houthi rebel forces in Yemen. The voyages were coordinated and funded by Shahab and Yunus, involving transporting cargo from Iran to the Somali coast and ship-to-ship transfers at night.

On Jan. 11, 2024, U.S. Central Command Navy forces operating from the USS LEWIS B. PULLER, including Navy SEALs and members of the U.S. Coast Guard Maritime Security Response Team East, boarded an unflagged small vessel and encountered 14 people, including Pahlawan. After a search, they seized Iranian-made advanced conventional weaponry, including ballistic missile components, anti-ship cruise missile components, and a warhead – all weaponry used by the Houthi rebel forces.

Two Navy SEALs – Nathan Gage Ingram and Christopher Chambers – died during the operation.

Special Warfare Operator 2nd Class Nathan Gage Ingram, 27, from north Texas, fell when climbing on board. Special Warfare Operator 1st Class Christopher J. Chambers, 37, a Maryland native and Massachusetts high school graduate, jumped into the water to try to save him. They both drowned, their bodies were never found.

In another case, in Brooklyn, New York, two Muslim men were convicted on all counts for conspiring and attempting to provide material support to the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), a designated foreign terrorist organization, and on money laundering charges.

Abdullah At Taqi was found guilty by a jury; Mohamad David Hashimi pleaded guilty. The men used online payment platforms, including Bitcoin, PayPal, and GoFundMe to transfer thousands of dollars to ISIS, disguised as charitable giving.

“Their intent was to procure weapons for terrorism and now their actions will result in incarceration. Justice has been served,” Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said.

“The defendants used Bitcoin, PayPal and GoFundMe to fund ISIS’s deadly mission,” U.S. Attorney Joseph Nocella Jr. for the Eastern District of New York said. “ISIS relies on supporters, like the defendants, to sponsor its terrorist aims, which is why our office and our law enforcement partners are working tirelessly to disrupt that pipeline and prosecute those who provide material support to terrorist organizations and their evildoers.”

At Taqi sent 15 Bitcoin transactions to a self-proclaimed ISIS member, Osama Obeida, for nearly one year and communicated through an encrypted communications platform, according to documents provided at the trial. They knew each other for two years during which At Taqi regularly sent Obeida money “to buy weapons for ISIS fighters,” according to the charges. Copies of messages presented at trial showed Obeida instructing At Taqi to delete the messages and to change his IP address.

Hashimi was also a member of a group chat for ISIS supporters on an encrypted platform. In early 2021, they began posting links and information to send money for purported humanitarian causes, but the funds were diverted to support the “mujahideen,” (holy warriors or ISIS fighters).

Using Bitcoin, PayPal, and GoFundMe, thousands of dollars were transferred to Obeida. At Taqi, Hashimi, a third co-defendant, Seema Rahman, and co-conspirator Khalilullah Yousuf, contributed more than $24,000 to Obeida’s Bitcoin address and more than $1,000 to an Obeida-linked PayPal account.

Yousuf and Rahman created multiple GoFundMe fundraising campaigns purporting to collect money for charitable causes, raising more than $10,000. The funds were wired to individuals connected to Obeida via Western Union, according to the charges.

Rahman pleaded guilty in January to conspiring to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization and is awaiting sentencing. Yousuf was arrested and prosecuted in Canada. Each defendant faces up to 60 years in prison.