A Westland man who turned his modest suburban home into a bomb factory while trying to provide support to the Islamic State was sentenced Thursday to 20 years in federal prison, one of the stiffest punishments for a terror-related crime in Michigan history.
Aws Naser, 38, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Jonathan J.C. Grey in Detroit 11 months after being convicted at trial of attempting to provide material support to ISIS and being a felon in possession of a destructive device.
Prosecutors wanted Naser to spend 35 years in prison, arguing he remains a danger to the public and the gravity of his crime warranted a long sentence. Naser’s lawyers sought a 10-year sentence, arguing the “alleged” crimes happened almost a decade ago and he is a different man today who should be judged for his actions, not merely thoughts or speech.
The defense lawyers also pointed to early steps by Naser towards deradicalization. While behind bars, Naser has engaged with an interventionist with Parents 4 Peace, a nonprofit deradicalization organization, who concluded Naser appears to be “relatively moderate in his religious and political views” and is “explicitly rejecting extremism and terrorism,” they wrote in a sentencing memo.
Naser also will be subjected to lifetime court supervision once released from prison.
A 20-year sentence is longer than average for an ISIS-related case.
In the last dozen years, at least 222 people have been sentenced for ISIS-related activity and received 12 years in prison, on average, according to the University of Nebraska Omaha’s National Counterterrorism Innovation, Technology, and Education (NCITE) Center of Excellence.
In most cases, defendants were sentenced to less than 17 years.
Terror-related federal prison sentences of 20 years or longer are rare in Michigan, and court officials identified just three other cases involving a defendant convicted of such a severe crime. Locally, Nigerian underwear bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab is serving four life sentences for trying to blow up Northwest Airlines Flight 253 over Detroit on Christmas Day 2009.
The Naser sentence exceeds the 19 1/2 years given to Barry Croft, a ringleader of a plot to kidnap and harm Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. An ISIS soldier, meanwhile, Dearborn resident Ibraheem Musaibli, is serving a 14-year sentence after being captured while fighting for the terror group in Syria.
The case against Naser focused on 2012-13 when the Iraqi refugee, who worked as a translator for the U.S. Marines, developed a friendship with the Florida terrorist, Russell Dennison. The two traveled to Iraq in early 2012 with plans to fight for ISIS.
Naser, however, returned to Michigan later that year while Dennison is believed to have been killed in Syria in 2019.
Back in Michigan, prosecutors say Naser built a makeshift bomb lab in the basement of his Westland home. During a federal raid, agents found key ingredients for an improvised explosive device and parallels to Abdulmutallab.
In Abdulmutallab’s case, a government expert built a bomb out of components recovered from the plane and said he believed the device contained triacetone triperoxide, or TATP, an explosive favored by Islamic extremists and nicknamed “The Mother of Satan” for its devastating instability.
Prosecutors said the three key ingredients of TATP — acetone, sulfuric acid and hydrogen peroxide — were found at Naser’s home.
rsnell@detroitnews.com
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Westland man Aws Naser sentenced for 2012 ISIS terror bomb plot
Reporting by Robert Snell, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
