Former Mississippi State University student, Muhammad Dahklalla, was sentenced to eight years in prison today for conspiring with his former fiancée, Jaelyn Young, to travel abroad in hopes of joining the radical Islamic terrorist group ISIS. U.S. District Judge SharIon Aycock gave the sentence. Dahklalla’s sentence length was based on a plea agreement his defense team submitted in March.
            The pair was arrested in August of 2015 at the Columbus-Lowndes County Airport. They admitted they were traveling abroad to join ISIS. Dahklalla was raised Muslim while Young had recently converted. Throughout the planning process, Young and Dahklalla were in communication with undercover FBI agents, who were posing as ISIS members.
            Dahklalla’s sentence was four years less than Young’s, who was sentenced to 12 years earlier this month. Prosecutors acknowledged that it was Young who did most of the planning through online messaging with the FBI Dahklalla referred to Young as his “ex” in his statement today.
The MSU graduate, who had been accepted into a master’s degree program for psychology was mostly stoic throughout the sentencing hearing. Dahklalla said his views on ISIS have changed since he was arrested.
            “I denounce and condemn them and don’t appreciate anything they do,” Dahklalla said. “I do realize now that the FBI saved my life. I was about to do something reckless and stupid. Even if I had been successful in getting over there, I would probably be dead right now. I thank the FBI for taking and arresting me. They truly saved my life, and I’m grateful to them. This was the biggest mistake of my life.”
            Dahklalla expressed his ambition to educate others through media outlets on the dangers of ISIS, whose actions he described as “twisted and savage.”
During his apology he became emotional to the point of tears when recalling the last conversation he had with his mother, in which he lied about his trip being a “vacation.”  
            Both the judge and the prosecution were sympathetic toward Mr. Dahklalla. Aycock cited his outstanding academic success as one of many factors that made the case “disappointing.”
            The prosecution likewise said they had “no doubt” Dahklalla’s apology was sincere but remained firm to their notion that he knew what he was doing, in response to Dahklalla’s statement where he assured the court that he was unaware of the violent tendencies displayed by ISIS.
            “No one on the planet, who doesn’t live under a rock, would not know about the atrocities committed by ISIS,” the prosecutor said.
            Dahklalla was represented by attorney Greg Park, who acknowledged his client’s crimes but urged the judge to consider Dahklalla’s upstanding past, citing his academic success as well as former charity work, when determining the sentence. Aycock noted these aspects of Dahklalla’s character.
            “It is important to acknowledge mitigating factors in this case,” Aycock said before delivering the sentence.
Aycock noted she “appreciated” Dahklalla’s recognition that the FBI agents kept him from endangering himself by joining ISIS. Aycock expressed her belief that had Dahklalla joined the group, he most likely would have died.
            Park argued for a minimal sentence due to the lack of noteworthy planning on the part of Dahklalla, even going so far as to say college students plan more for spring break and football games than Dahklalla planned for the trip to Syria, where ISIS is based.
            “Planning was minimal at best,” Park said.
            Park also argued Dahklalla only wanted to join the group due to the notion it was not wholly comprised of radicals, saying his client had fallen victim to, “professional propaganda.”
            In their statement, prosecutors were skeptical of Dahklalla’s claimed ignorance of the terrorist group’s violent acts, citing the well-publicized manner in which ISIS conducts their violent executions.
            Dahklalla’s sentence is unlikely to be appealed due to a clause in his plea agreement waiving appeal rights as well as his right to attest. He was also sentenced to 15 years of probation and surveillance with special conditions after his time in prison.