RICHMOND, Va. — An Iraqi refugee who helped the Islamic State’s online operations was sentenced Thursday to 12 years in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release.
Abdulrahman Alqaysi, 28, pleaded guilty earlier this year to conspiracy to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization. Prosecutors said he supported ISIS’s cyber operations by stealing credit cards, creating propaganda materials, and training recruits in hacking techniques.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Alqaysi began assisting ISIS’s Kalashnikov Group, part of the organization’s cyber army, when he was still a teenager in 2015. Over three years, he posed online as “the state’s hacker,” boasting about his role as a cyber expert and administrator within the group.
He helped disrupt a Hezbollah-run website, filed false reports to remove anti-ISIS Facebook pages, and provided at least 25 stolen credit cards and personal data to ISIS supporters. Alqaysi also designed logos and propaganda images for use on seized websites and social media accounts.
Alqaysi was indicted in 2020 and arrested in Houston in 2022. He has been in federal custody since his arrest. Alongside terrorism charges, prosecutors said he lied on a U.S. citizenship application by denying any affiliation with terrorist organizations.
Two co-defendants — Mohammed Amer Faisal Al Qaysi and Hami Jamshid — were also charged for receiving stolen financial data. Jamshid was sentenced in 2023 to six months of home confinement, while Al Qaysi is scheduled for sentencing in November.
Federal prosecutors said Alqaysi’s case underscores the evolving threat of cyber-based terrorism and the importance of international cooperation in tracking digital support networks tied to extremist organizations.
