Ahmad Khalil Elshazly, 29, a U.S. citizen from West Haven, Connecticut, was sentenced to 92 months in prison and lifetime supervised release for attempting to provide material support to ISIS, according to The Center Square’s report on court proceedings. The outlet says U.S. District Judge Victor Bolden handed down the sentence after Elshazly pleaded guilty in November 2022.
Undercover ‘boat’ sting ended his trip, per court records
According to court documents cited by The Center Square, Elshazly in December 2019 paid $500 to an individual he believed would smuggle him out of the United States to Turkey, where he expected to connect with an ISIS member to cross into Syria. The person was an undercover agent. Elshazly traveled to Stonington, Connecticut, believing he would board a boat, but was arrested there and detained.
Allegiance messages and a pro-ISIS Discord, court says
The Center Square reports that court documents and statements made in court describe Elshazly expressing in September 2018 a desire to travel to Syria to fight on behalf of ISIS. In various in-person and online conversations, he swore “bay’at” allegiance to ISIS and its then-leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, according to those records. After al-Baghdadi’s reported death in October 2019, Elshazly sent a message pledging allegiance “to the Khilafah” to al-Baghdadi’s successor, Abu Ibrahim Al Husseini Al Hashami Al Qurashi, the outlet reports. He also created and administered a pro-ISIS Discord server used to post hundreds of pro-ISIS memes and videos, per court documents cited by The Center Square.
Guilty plea and detention conduct, per DOJ
The Center Square reports that he pleaded guilty in November 2022 to attempting to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization. While detained, he had numerous disciplinary infractions, the U.S. Department of Justice said, according to the outlet. The DOJ also said that in August 2025 officers searching his cell found a handwritten plan for a coordinated uprising at the detention facility, with diagrams, breach instructions, and tactics for confronting the Correctional Emergency Response Team, per The Center Square’s account of DOJ statements.
Joint terrorism task force investigation
Elshazly’s arrest, prosecution, and sentencing followed an FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force operation that involved the Stonington Police Department, New Haven Police Department, and Connecticut State Police, according to The Center Square. The outlet notes the JTTF includes national and regional partners such as Homeland Security Investigations, IRS Criminal Investigations, Naval Criminal Investigative Service, the State Department, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, U.S. Marshals Service, and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
Related cases cited by the outlet
The Center Square states that, nearly every week, U.S. Attorney’s Offices announce terrorism-related prosecutions or sentencings. The outlet cites, without naming defendants, an ISIS-related prosecution announced by the Eastern District of New York involving a Georgian national extradited to the United States, and a Western District of Pennsylvania case charging a 21-year-old with planning to commit a major terrorist act on behalf of ISIS.
