Married couple who plotted to kill Americans for ISIS plead guilty
An Alabama woman and New York City man have pleaded guilty to trying to fight for the ISIS terrorist group.
Driving the news: Arwa Muthana, 30, and her husband, James Bradley, 21, attempted to travel to the Middle East to join ISIS, prosecutors say. Bradley had also allegedly expressed a desire to support ISIS by committing a terror attack in the U.S.
Details: In 2020, Bradley told an undercover law enforcement officer about the possibility of attacking the U.S. military academy in West Point, according to the Justice Department.
He allegedly said that if he couldn't leave the U.S., he'd do "something" in the U.S. instead. The two also "accessed, posted and distributed extremist online content," the DOJ said.
After much planning, Bradley and Muthana set out to travel to the Middle East via a cargo ship departing from New Jersey on March 31, 2021, prosecutors say.
They were arrested as they were boarding. Later, Muthana allegedly said during an interview that she was "willing to fight and kill Americans if it was for Allah."
Worth noting: Muthana is the older sister of Hoda Muthana, who joined ISIS after traveling to Syria in 2014, AL.com notes.
The younger Muthana has since expressed interest in returning to the U.S. while being detained in a Kurdish refugee camp with her young son. A judge ruled in 2019 that the U.S. is not obligated to help her return, and the Supreme Court declined to hear her appeal this year.