Man’s terrorism trial gets underway
In the hours before Laith W. Alebbini went to the Cincinnati airport to allegedly fly overseas to join ISIS in April 2017, he argued with family members who begged him not to go, a prosecutor said during Tuesday’s opening statements of Alebbini’s terrorism trial in Dayton’s U.S. District Court.
In a purported text conversation with his sister, shown to U.S. District Court Judge Walter Rice via television display, Alebbini’s sister Lina told her brother that she has a class on terrorism and that regarding ISIS, “I swear to God, this is terrorism.”
In his final response, Alebbini texted back: “Do you think I am a criminal? I am a terrorist. I am mujahid.”
Alebbini also texted his parents and told them to watch a pro-ISIS YouTube video so that they would understand.
Alebbini, 28, who moved to Dayton in 2017, is on trial for conspiracy and attempting “to provide material support and resources to a foreign terrorist organization in the form of personnel to work under ISIS’s direction and control.” He has pleaded not guilty.
One of Alebbini’s defense attorneys said his client “has not hidden his pro-Islamic State views from family, friends or government” but that Alebbini also has been deeply affected by the “systematic slaughter of Syrian neighbors” by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, including the use of sarin gas to kill people including babies.
Alebbini’s attorney also told Rice during opening statements that Alebbini had “no firm intent or plan” other than getting to Istanbul to talk to refugees, that he never planned any terrorist attack against anyone, didn’t communicate with anyone with ISIS and that he denounced the killing of innocent people.
Witnesses on Tuesday said Alebbini first came onto law enforcement’s radar during an early 2017 visit to the Turkish Embassy in Washington, D.C.
Defense attorneys said Alebbini wanted to talk to an ambassador in Turkey about intervening more in Syria’s conflict.
That led to an interview at Alebbini’s house by both a U.S. Secret Service special agent and a joint terrorism task force agent. Alebbini was not under arrest and did speak with the agents.
The agents said Alebbini talked about what he perceived as lax security near the embassy.
“If I had a bomb on me, I swear to God three embassies would have gone down,” Alebbini said, according to the agents.
Alebbini allegedly told the agents that he admired the United States because of how many different cultures co-exist and that ISIS may be a part of getting to a unified Arab state.
First Assistant U.S. Attorney Vipal Patel said a local confidential source knew about Alebbini even before federal agents asked that person to watch him when he moved to Dayton in 2017. Patel said the source knew Alebbini’s wife before she moved to Virginia.
Agents testified that Alebbini told them that he wanted to join the U.S. Army and become part of special forces so that he could help solve the problems in Syria.
Asked if he would be a good ISIS recruit, Alebbini said, “I would be the perfect ISIS recruit,” the agents said.
Alebbini waived his jury trial and will have his case decided by Rice. The trial is scheduled to last at least through this week and next week.