Bronx Man Who Wanted To Travel To Afghanistan And Join Taliban Sentenced To 8 Years In Prison

A man from the Bronx convicted of aiding the Taliban was sentenced to eight years in prison on Thursday. Delowar Mohammed Hossain was convicted of crimes related to providing material support for terrorism with the Taliban and contributing funds, goods, and services to the radical Islamic group to help fight American forces.

According to ABC News, Hossain was convicted during a one-week trial in October after he was apprehended at Kennedy Airport in 2019. He was headed to Afghanistan at the time of his arrest.

Court papers state that prior to the trial, a judge allowed the government to take necessary procedures to protect the identities of witnesses involved in the case. This included an undercover New York City police officer assigned to extract information from Hossain after he was found out to have been expressing interest to join the Taliban. Hossain sought out a recruit who would accompany him in his mission, but that new recruit turned out to be a government informant.

“I want to kill some kufars (non-believers) before I die,” was what Hossain told the NYC undercover cop.

Hossain was sentenced in Manhattan federal court by Judge Sidney H. Stein. Prosecutors said he made preparations for his mission by purchasing walkie-talkies, trekking gear and had instructions for his recruit to save enough money to buy weapons once they reached Afghanistan.

A previous 35-year-prison sentence sought by the prosecution was reduced to a term of 8 years as Hossain’s defense lawyers requested a sentence of not more than 6 years arguing that the defendant was a child of Bengali immigrants who turned to Islam after years of experiencing personal strife. The defending lawyers added that their client had developed delusions of grandeur along with a self-destructive desire to escape his life.

The defendant has never been arrested and shows no indication that he had any violent tendencies nor did show any signs that he was capable of harming anyone. On the other hand, prosecutors called Hossain a “dangerous, radicalized extremist who devoted himself to killing Americans.”