New York Man Sentenced to Nine Years for Attempting to Provide Material Support to ISIS

A New York man has been sentenced to 108 months in prison and 15 years of supervised release for attempting to provide material support to the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), a designated foreign terrorist organisation.

According to court records, 25-year-old Awais Chudhary of Queens pledged allegiance to ISIS in 2019 and began planning a knife or bomb attack on civilians. He identified potential targets including pedestrian bridges over the Grand Central Parkway and the Flushing Bay Promenade, and carried out reconnaissance missions, recording videos of the areas where he intended to strike.

Chudhary sought advice from individuals he believed to be ISIS supporters on the type of knife to use and how to conceal forensic evidence such as fingerprints and DNA. He also shared extremist propaganda, including diagrams from ISIS publications illustrating where to stab victims for maximum lethality.

In preparation for the attack, he ordered a tactical knife, mask, gloves, and camera equipment to film the assault and inspire further violence. He was arrested as he attempted to collect the items from a locker in Queens.

Beyond his planned attack, Chudhary also contributed to ISIS’s global propaganda machine by assisting in the translation of extremist materials into English, aiming to recruit English-speaking supporters.

Senior officials highlighted the seriousness of the threat. Attorney General Pamela Bondi stated that Chudhary had “pledged allegiance to a brutal terrorist organisation and set out to kill American citizens”. FBI Director Kash Patel confirmed that “the men and women of the FBI never lose sight of the threat posed by supporters of ISIS”.

Prosecutors credited the work of the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force for preventing what could have been a mass-casualty attack in Queens.

Chudhary pleaded guilty in the Eastern District of New York to attempting to provide material support to ISIS. The case was prosecuted by the Justice Department’s National Security Division and the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York.

Read the press release here.