Ali Kourani Was Trained by Hizballah’s External Terrorist
Operations Component and Gathered Intelligence in New York City in Support of
Attack-Planning Efforts
Geoffrey S. Berman, the United States Attorney for the
Southern District of New York, John C. Demers, Assistant Attorney General for
National Security, William F. Sweeney Jr., Assistant Director-in-Charge of the
New York Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”), and Dermot F.
Shea, Commissioner of the New York City Police Department (“NYPD”), announced
today that ALI KOURANI was sentenced to 40 years in prison based on terrorism,
sanctions, and immigration convictions arising from KOURANI’s illicit work as
an operative for the Islamic Jihad Organization, Hizballah’s external
attack-planning component.
Manhattan U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman said: “Ali Kourani was recruited, trained, and
deployed by Hizballah’s Islamic Jihad Organization to plan and execute acts of
terrorism around New York City. After
spending years conducting surveillance on the City’s critical infrastructure,
federal buildings, international airports, and even daycare centers, he is now
the first Islamic Jihad Organization operative to be convicted and sentenced
for his crimes against the United States.
The lengthy prison term imposed today on Kourani sends an important
message to Hizballah and the Islamic Jihad Organization: If you are caught planning harm against this
City and its residents, you will face justice and be held accountable.”
Assistant Attorney General John C. Demers said: “While living in the United States, Kourani
served as an operative of Hizballah in order to help the foreign terrorist
organization prepare for potential future attacks against the United
States. With today’s sentence, he is
being held accountable for his crimes.
The evidence at trial showed that Kourani searched for suppliers who
could provide weapons for such attacks, identified people who could be
recruited or targeted for violence, and gathered information about and
conducted surveillance of potential targets within our country. Such covert activities conducted on U.S. soil
are a clear threat to our national security and I applaud the agents, analysts,
and prosecutors who are responsible for this investigation and prosecution.”
FBI Assistant Director William F. Sweeney Jr. said: “Ali Kourani’s arrest was a reminder to us
all that New York City and its surrounding areas remain primary targets for
those looking to conduct a violent attack against our way of life. His sentencing today, however, is also a
reminder of the many successes of our FBI JTTFs nationwide, and their
never-ending determination to disrupt the plans of those working to harm
us.”
Police Commissioner Dermot F. Shea said: “This sentencing is an another example of the
dedicated work of the New York Joint Terrorism Task Force and the close
partnership with the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District, to combat
terror and hold accountable those who seek to support and promote terrorist
groups. I thank the NYPD investigators
and our law enforcement partners whose hard work brought Mr. Kourani to
justice.”
As reflected in the criminal Complaint, Indictment, court
filings, and evidence presented at trial:
Hizballah is a Lebanon-based Shia Islamic organization with
political, social, and terrorist components that was founded in the 1980s with
support from Iran. Since Hizballah’s
formation, the organization has been responsible for numerous terrorist attacks
that have killed hundreds, including United States citizens and military
personnel. In 1997, the U.S. Department
of State designated Hizballah a Foreign Terrorist Organization, pursuant to
Section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act, and it remains so
designated today. In 2010, State
Department officials described Hizballah as the most technically capable
terrorist group in the world, and a continued security threat to the United
States.
The Islamic Jihad Organization (IJO), which is also known as
the External Security Organization and “910,” is a highly compartmentalized
component of Hizballah responsible for the planning, preparation, and execution
of intelligence, counterintelligence, and terrorist activities on behalf of
Hizballah outside of Lebanon. In July
2012, an IJO operative detonated explosives on a bus transporting Israeli
tourists in the vicinity of an airport in Burgas, Bulgaria, killing six people
and injuring 32 others. Law enforcement
authorities have disrupted several other IJO attack-planning operations around
the world, including the arrest of an IJO operative surveilling Israeli targets
in Cyprus in 2012, the seizure of bomb-making precursor chemicals in Thailand
in 2012, including chemicals manufactured by a medical devices company based in
Guangzhou, China (Guangzhou Company-1), and a similar seizure of chemicals
manufactured by Guangzhou Company-1 in Cyprus in May 2015 in connection with
the arrest of another IJO operative.
KOURANI, who was born in Lebanon, attended
Hizballah-sponsored weapons training in Lebanon in 2000 when he was
approximately 16 years old. After
lawfully entering the United States in 2003, KOURANI obtained a Bachelor of
Science in biomedical engineering in 2009, and a Master of Business Administration
in 2013.
KOURANI and certain of his relatives were in Lebanon during
the summer 2006 conflict between Israel and Hizballah, when a residence
belonging to his family was destroyed.
At some point by 2008, IJO recruited KOURANI to its ranks. In August 2008, KOURANI submitted an
application for naturalization in the United States in which he falsely
claimed, among other things, that he was not affiliated with a terrorist
organization. In April 2009, KOURANI
became a naturalized citizen and was issued a United States passport. Despite claiming in his passport application
that he had no travel plans, KOURANI traveled to Guangzhou, China – the
location of Guangzhou Company-1 – on May 3, 2009. The purpose of the trip was to develop
relationships that the IJO could rely on to obtain ammonium nitrate to be used
as an explosive precursor chemical.
IJO assigned KOURANI an IJO handler, or mentor, responsible
for providing him with taskings, debriefings, and arranging training. KOURANI sometimes communicated with his
handler using coded email communications, including messages sent by the
handler that informed KOURANI of the need to return to Lebanon. In order to establish contact with his
handler when KOURANI returned to Lebanon, KOURANI called a telephone number
associated with a pager (the IJO Pager) and provided a code that he understood
was specific to him. After contacting
the IJO Pager, the handler would contact KOURANI to set up an in-person meeting
by calling a phone belonging to one of KOURANI’s relatives. The IJO also provided KOURANI with additional
training in tradecraft, weapons, and tactics.
In 2011, for example, KOURANI attended a weapons training camp in the
vicinity of Birkat Jabrur, Lebanon, where he used a rocket-propelled grenade
launcher, an AK-47 assault rifle, an MP5 submachine gun, a PKS machine gun (a
Russian-made belt-fed weapon) and a Glock pistol.
Based on other taskings from IJO personnel, which IJO
personnel conveyed during periodic in-person meetings when KOURANI returned to
Lebanon, KOURANI conducted operations, which he understood to be aimed at
preparing for potential future Hizballah attacks. These covert activities included searching
for weapons suppliers in the United States who could provide firearms to
support IJO operations; identifying individuals affiliated with the Israeli
Defense Force whom the IJO could either recruit or target for violence;
gathering information regarding operations and security at airports in the
United States and elsewhere, including JFK International Airport in New York;
and surveilling U.S. military and law enforcement facilities in New York City,
including the federal building at 26 Federal Plaza in Manhattan. KOURANI transmitted some of the products of
his surveillance and intelligence-gathering efforts back to IJO personnel in
Lebanon using digital storage media.
* * *
In addition to the prison term, KOURANI, 35, was also
sentenced to five years of supervised release.
Mr. Berman praised the outstanding efforts of the FBI’s New
York Joint Terrorism Task Force, which principally consists of agents from the
FBI and detectives from the New York City Police Department. Mr. Berman also thanked the Counterterrorism
Section of the Department of Justice’s National Security Division.
This prosecution is being handled by the Office’s Terrorism
and International Narcotics Unit.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Amanda L. Houle and Emil J. Bove III are in
charge of the case, with assistance from Trial Attorney Bridget Behling of the
Counterterrorism Section.
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