SHIVAM PATEL SUPPORTS ISIS, GETS 5- YR JAIL
Norfolk, June 7: A Virginia man who told an FBI undercover employee he wanted to commit jihad has been sentenced to five years in prison for passport fraud and making false statements in his application to join the US military.
A US attorney’s office news release says 28year- old Shivam Patel, of Williamsburg, was sentenced on Monday.
The Virginian- Pilot reports that Patel, who was raised Hindu before converting to Islam, left his job teaching English in China to fly to Jordan, where he talked about joining the Islamic State group.
Prosecutors say Jordan moved to deport him.
He was met by the FBI informant, who said Patel expressed admiration for an Army officer who had killed 13 soldiers at Fort Hood, Texas. Patel didn’t disclose his overseas trips in his application.
Simply expressing support for a terrorist organisation or attack is not against the law. Patel’s crime was failing to disclose his trips to Jordan when he was trying to join the Army and Air Force in December 2016 and January 2017. Court documents say Patel lied about his travel history. He had said his only time out of the country in the past seven years was a family trip to India in 2011 and 2012.
During an interview with the Army, the recruiter asked to see Patel’s passport to confirm his travel claims. Patel agreed to bring it by, but two days later he told the State Department he had accidentally thrown it away in October and needed a new one.