NBC News has received exclusive video of the extradition of Islamic cleric Sheikh Abdullah al-Faisal from Jamaica to the US He is accused of using his public profile and personal network to recruit Islamic State sympathizers and potential fighters , Manhattan prosecutors said Friday.
Abdullah al-Faisal, also known as Shaikh Faisal or Sheikh Abdullah al-Faisal, pleaded not guilty in Manhattan state law to five charges, including conspiracy and supporting terrorism.
He was extradited on Thursday with the help of the Justice Department. He had previously been imprisoned in Jamaica.
Al-Faisal, 56, has previously been convicted in the UK of crimes related to incitement to murder and the use of hateful rhetoric in celebration of ideologues of terrorists. In 2017, he was named a “specially designated global terrorist” by the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control.
Al-Faisal was arrested nearly three years ago as part of an investigation by the New York Police Department’s Intelligence Bureau. According to his indictment, Faisal disseminated ISIS propaganda and detailed how an undercover NYPD officer could travel to the Middle East to come to Syria and fight with ISIS.
The investigation into Faisal began in 2016, according to New York police. Charging documents show that an undercover police officer flew with members of the NYPD intelligence bureau to the Middle East where al-Faisal allegedly provided contact details for a person based in Raqqa, Syria. That person later began plotting to bring the undercover policeman to ISIS-controlled territory.
Attorneys for the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office told a judge on Friday that evidence obtained through a search contained communications with Germaine Lindsey, one of the suicide bombers in London, July 7, 2005; Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the “Underwear Bomber of 2009;” Faisal Shazad, who tried to bomb Times Square in 2010; Khuram Butt, the 2017 London Bridge striker; and several other high-profile terrorists.
“Al-Faisal told the court that he had kept Osama Bin Laden in ‘great respect’, but that he had ‘lost his way’ since 9/11,” the BBC reported in 2007.
Prosecutors allege that, in the course of legal access to his e-mail and cloud accounts, they discovered communications with several ISIS fighters, including senior members of that terrorist organization.
“The way forward is not the mood,” Al-Faisal said in an online speech in 2016. ” The way forward is the bullet. “
New York police said they were seeking and obtaining approval from the Justice Department to conduct the investigation abroad and in August 2017 collaborated with Jamaican authorities to arrest al-Faisal.
“The indictment and arrest of Shaikh Faisal nearly three years ago put an end to the productive, radical Islamic propaganda and terror recruitment accused in this case – and delivered a major blow to ISIS ‘overall recruitment capabilities,” Manhattan said. District Attorney Cy Vance in a statement Friday.
“For two decades, Faisal has inspired terrorists behind sites and attacks in London, New York, and on board aircraft in flight,” said NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea.
Al-Faisal will be held in jail pending trial, according to the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office. He faces up to 25 years in prison if convicted.
Alicia Victoria Lozano contributed.
