ISIS-K Operative Gets 20 Years Over Abbey Gate
ISIS-K Operative Gets 20 Years Over Abbey Gate
The News
Mohammad Sharifullah, an ISIS-K operative who admitted scouting the route used by the suicide bomber at Kabul's Abbey Gate, was sentenced Wednesday to 20 years in federal prison — the maximum available.
A federal jury in Virginia convicted him in April of a nine-year conspiracy to provide material support to ISIS-K, the Washington Examiner reported.
The Aug. 26, 2021 bombing at the airport's Abbey Gate killed 13 U.S. service members and roughly 160 Afghans during the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. The Washington Post put the Afghan toll at about 170.
Why It Wasn't Life
Jurors deadlocked on whether any deaths at the airport resulted from Sharifullah's conspiracy. A unanimous finding on that count would have opened the door to a life sentence.
Timeline
Prosecutors said Sharifullah took part in at least a dozen ISIS-K attacks over this stretch.
ISIS-K operative Abdul Rahman al-Logari detonated a body-worn bomb at Abbey Gate, killing 13 American troops and about 160 Afghans. Sharifullah later told FBI agents he scouted the route to the gate and passed word to ISIS-K leadership that the road was clear; he knew al-Logari from time together in an Afghan prison.
A federal jury convicted Sharifullah of conspiring to provide material support to ISIS-K, but deadlocked on whether his conduct caused deaths at the airport.
U.S. District Judge Anthony Trenga imposed the 20-year maximum.
Reactions
Trenga called Sharifullah a "dedicated terrorist" and said he would have imposed separate sentences for each victim if the law allowed it.
Gold Star families sat in the courtroom for the hearing. PJ Media reported that Mark Schmitz stood in the courtroom Wednesday and faced the man prosecutors tied to the network that killed his son. Several Abbey Gate families said the sentence did not deliver justice for their losses.
Defense attorneys had asked for 17 years, pointing to the jury's refusal to convict on the bombing deaths. They also argued Sharifullah's statements to the FBI — the only direct evidence tying him to the Abbey Gate attack — came under duress after his arrest by Pakistani authorities.
What's Next
It is not yet clear whether Sharifullah will appeal his conviction or his sentence.
The open question left by the trial is what evidence exists, beyond his own statements to the FBI, linking him directly to the Abbey Gate bombing.
More
The case was tried in federal court in Virginia and drew coverage across the spectrum, from the Washington Post and The Independent to Fox News, Newsmax and One America News — a rare point of agreement that the sentence was the ceiling, not the floor, of what the law allowed.
Poll
Was 20 years enough for the Abbey Gate conspirator?
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