Washington: A Pakistani doctor living in the US was sentenced to 18 years in jail for attempting to provide material support to ISIS.

A statement by the US Justice Department read, "A Rochester man was sentenced today to 216 months in prison, equivalent to 18 years, followed by five years of supervised release for attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organisation."

According to the Justice Department, the Pakistani doctor, identified as Muhammad Masood (31), travelled from Rochester to Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport (MSP) to board a flight bound for Los Angeles, California. Upon arrival at MSP, Masood checked in for his flight and was subsequently arrested by the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force.

According to court documents, Masood is a licensed doctor in Pakistan and was formerly employed as a research coordinator at a medical clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, under an H-1B visa.

"Between January 2020 and March 2020, Masood used an encrypted messaging application to facilitate his travel overseas to join a terrorist organization. Masood made multiple statements about his desire to join the Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham (ISIS), and he pledged his allegiance to the designated terrorist organization and its leader. Masood also expressed his desire to conduct “lone wolf” terrorist attacks in the United States," the statement read.

"On February 21, 2020, Masood purchased a plane ticket from Chicago, Illinois, to Amman, Jordan, and from there planned to travel to Syria. On March 16, 2020, Masood’s travel plans changed because Jordan closed its borders to incoming travel due to the coronavirus pandemic. Masood then agreed to fly from Minneapolis to Los Angeles to meet up with an individual who he believed would assist him with travel via cargo ship to deliver him to ISIS territory," it added.

Last year, on August 16, Masood pleaded guilty to the charges that he was booked under for attempting to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organisation.

Masood was sentenced on August 25 before Senior Judge Paul A Magnuson. The FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force investigated the case.

Assistant US Attorney Andrew R. Winter for the District of Minnesota and Trial Attorney Dmitriy Slavin National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section prosecuted the case.