A Bronx home-health aide who plotted to pose as a humanitarian nurse to join ISIS was slapped with 20 years behind bars Tuesday.
Saddam Mohamed “Adam” Raishani, 32, was hoping to travel to Turkey to ultimately join up with the Islamic State in Syria. But his cohorts included an undercover NYPD detective and undercover FBI agent.
Raishani, who has a wife and young son, pleaded guilty to attempting to provide material support to a terrorist organization and a related conspiracy charge.
The wannabe terrorist, who has been in jail since his 2017 arrest, appeared before Circuit Judge Ronnie Abrams wearing a navy blue suit with a red striped tie. Marshals removed his handcuffs for the hearing but kept him in leg irons.
Reading from a prepared statement, Raishani said his time behind bars has helped him to see the error of his ways.
“I no longer hold the same views that I had when I came in,” Raishani said.
Gerald McMahon, Raishani’s lawyer, tried arguing in court papers that the number of casualties from the Vietnam War “dwarfs” the number of Americans who have been killed by ISIS. But the comparison apparently didn’t sit well with Abrams, who said the terrorist group, which is known for posting gruesome videos of beheadings, “slaughters women and enslaves children.”
“It’s not about culture,” the judge said. “It’s not about religion. It’s about terrorism.”