American ISIS fighter captured in Iraq charged in federal court

The American man who was captured by Kurdish forces in Iraq while apparently defecting from the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) was charged Thursday with providing material support to the terrorist group.

Mohamad Jamal Khweis, 26, of Alexandria, was charged in federal court in Virginia, according to a Justice Department news release.

Khweis, the first ISIS-affiliated American captured on the battlefield, was captured in March in the northern Iraqi town of Sinjar.

{mosads}In an affidavit, Khweis admitted to flying out of Baltimore and traveling through the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Turkey to get to Syria and join ISIS, according to the criminal complaint.

Prior to leaving, he researched ISIS and watched videos of terrorist operations and prisoner executions, including the burning of a Jordanian pilot, according to the complaint.

“The defendant was inspired to join ISIL because he saw that they had established an Islamic caliphate and were in the process of expanding it,” the complaint says. “The defendant stated that he knew ISIL used violence in its expansion of the caliphate, but he also stated that ISIL engaged in peaceful and humanitarian efforts.”

After arriving in Syria, Khweis stayed at a safe house in Raqqa with other recruits from around the world, according to the complaint. There, he was asked to give himself a nickname, he chose Abu Omar.

During the intake process at the safe house, he was asked if he wanted to be a suicide bomber.

“The defendant answered ‘yes,’” the complaint says. “The defendant stated that he thought this question was intended to test his commitment to ISIL.”

He moved to a second safe house in Raqqa, where he was told he would be trained and sent back to his home country, according to the complaint.

“The group’s requirements, among other things, were that the recruits had to be single, would train in remote locations, must be free of any injuries, and had to stay reclusive when returning to their home countries,” the complaint says. “The defendant claimed that he did not commit to this training.”

Khweis then spent the majority of his religious training in Mosul, Iraq. He had about a month of training before he left.

“The defendant admitted that at the end of every lesson, the Imam stated ‘may God destroy America,’” the complaint reads.

In an interview on Kurdish TV after his capture, Khweis said he joined ISIS because he wasn’t thinking clearly.

“At the time I made the decision to go because I wasn’t thinking straight,” Khweis said in March. “On the way there, I regretted. I wanted to go back.”

He left, he said, because he didn’t agree with ISIS’s ideology.

“My message to the American people is that life in Mosul is really, really bad,” he said. “The people who are controlling Mosul don’t represent the religion. Daesh, ISIS, ISIL, they don’t represent the religion. I don’t see them as good Muslims.”