SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – A Buffalo, Mo., woman was sentenced in
federal court today for using Twitter to transmit threatening communications
against several persons, including two FBI employees and two former members of
the military and their families, on behalf of the Islamic State of Iraq and
al-Sham, also known as ISIS.
Safya Roe Yassin, 40, of Buffalo, was sentenced by U.S.
District Judge M. Douglas Harpool to nine years in federal prison without
parole.
According to court documents, Yassin engaged in a concerted
and prolonged effort to support the online activities of the Islamic State of
Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS). ISIS is a foreign terrorist organization that has
encouraged and taken credit for attacks against civilians throughout the world,
including in the United States. By maintaining numerous social media accounts
and posting violent messages to them, Yassin was steadfast and outspoken in her
support for ISIS and its murderous mission. She communicated directly with at
least one person she believed to be an ISIS operative overseas, and admitted
that on two occasions she helped ISIS threaten and terrorize the four victims
in this case, whom ISIS targeted for no reason other than their honorable
service to the United States.
On Feb. 28, 2018, Yassin pleaded guilty to two counts of
transmitting threatening communications across state lines. Yassin admitted
that she maintained a series of Twitter accounts under the pseudonym “Muslimah”
that she used to post, or tweet, messages in support of ISIS, a designated
foreign terrorist organization. Yassin also re-posted, or re-tweeted, messages
she knew were authored by ISIS operatives residing overseas.
Beginning in May 2015, Yassin communicated over Twitter with
a person identified in court documents as “Individual A,” whom she believed was
an ISIS operative located outside the United States. They discussed ISIS’s
publishing of personally identifying information of U.S. government employees
and others, to threaten violence against those persons on behalf of ISIS. From
May 2015 through at least October 2015, Yassin and Individual A routinely
communicated about promoting new pro-ISIS accounts to like-minded followers
before Twitter suspended them.
Yassin knew that Individual A used Twitter accounts,
including those that Yassin promoted, to tweet personally identifying
information of government employees and others and to threaten those persons on
behalf of ISIS. Yassin admitted that, knowing Individual A’s intent to
threaten, she re-retweeted the personally identifying information on her
Muslimah accounts several times so that the information could be more widely
disseminated.
Throughout the month of August 2015, ISIS operatives tweeted
additional personally identifying information, which Yassin re-tweeted to her
followers, knowing that the intent of the messages was to threaten on behalf of
ISIS. Yassin admitted that on Aug. 24, 2015, she re-tweeted one such message
that contained the phrase “Wanted to kill,” followed by the first and last
name, status as an employee of the FBI, city of residence, zip code, and phone
number of Victim 1. In the same communication, she repeated the same “Wanted to
kill” phrase, followed by the same personally identifying information for
Victim 2. Yassin intended this communication as a threat against Victims 1 and
2.
Yassin also admitted that on Oct. 8, 2015, she re-tweeted a
message from Individual A that linked to a publically viewable document
containing the name and home address of Victim 3, a U.S. service member, along
with photos of Victim 3, his family, and the names of his wife and children.
The document further stated, “Once again I leave these details online to cause
havoc in his life & for my brothers and Al-Qaeda in the U.S. to eventually
hunt him down & kill him.”
The linked document also contained the name and home address
of Victim 4, a former U.S. service member who had been the previous target of
threats on Twitter by ISIS. Yassin knew that Individual A had previously
threatened Victim 4 with violence and called him ISIS’s “number one target.”
Yassin admitted that she intended to aid and assist Individual A in threatening
Victims 3 and 4.
This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Brian
Casey and Abram McGull II. It was investigated by the FBI.
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