Syed Aman of Franklin Square was arrested on Nov. 5 for allegedly trying to join ISIS, their flag pictured above.
REUTERS/Alaa Al-Marjani
A Franklin Square man was arrested Tuesday while boarding a flight to allegedly join the terrorist group ISIS, federal authorities said.
Syed Aman, 28, was taken into custody at John F. Kennedy International Airport as he tried to board a flight to Qatar to join and fight for the terrorist organization, according to a 25-page criminal complaint filed by FBI Special Agent Marisa Zahn. The suspect had been checked in and processed through airport security before being arrested while boarding.
“Aman’s history demonstrates that he shares ISIS’s violent goals and ideology,” Breon Peace, the U.S. Attorney General for the Eastern District of New York, said in court documents. “Aman’s support for ISIS and his willingness to engage in violence on its behalf shows him to be a significant danger to the community.”
Syed Aman’s alleged involvement with ISIS
For the past two years, Aman has been in regular contact with ISIS and has donated to the terrorist organization before he allegedly planned to travel to the Middle East to join and fight for ISIS himself, according to court documents.
Aman has expressed support for ISIS — and a desire to commit jihad on its behalf — on social media since around 2023, court documents say. Around June 2023, he allegedly joined a pro-ISIS social media group where users shared ISIS propaganda, and also discussed how to provide financial support to the terrorist organization and how to move in order to join the organization and fight on its behalf.
Through this group, Aman allegedly connected with a confidential informant (CHS) who shared that they were an ISIS operative in the Middle East. Aman allegedly asked the informant how he could connect with other ISIS fighters. He also allegedly began sending money to ISIS through the CHS, telling the source that the money was “for mujahideen [fighters], to prepare them and supplies.”
Aman also wrote two manuals, court documents say — one called the “Cyber Manual,” detailing cyber and personal precautions for ISIS supporters, and another called the “Realties of this World Manual,” which aimed to motivate other terrorist fighters.
The Realities of this World Manual, according to the report, is a motivational 18-page manual that includes topics such as exposing the “evil” of America, justifying the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States, inspiring others to fight for ISIS, and refuting popular arguments against supporting ISIS. The manual also said that “killing kuffar [non-Muslims and/or Westerners] and aiders of Crusaders is not sinful, rather is rewarded.”
In the Cyber Manual, Aman described cyber precautions ISIS supporters could take to “reduce [their] sentence,” according to prosecutors. In this manual, Aman allegedly advised readers to learn rifle marksmanship, do physical training, learn field medic training and read the Quran. Aman also recommended that individuals “take a steel pen with you” to the airport, in case there were “security forces waiting for you at the airport and try to arrest you, since other weapons are difficult to bring to the airport.”
Then Aman contacted the CHS in October 2024 to “discuss a plan.” For the next month, he described the concrete steps he planned on taking in order to join the terrorist organization, and repeatedly emphasized that moving to the Middle East and committing jihad were the most important things to him, according to prosecutors.
He repeatedly expressed concern that he would be stopped by law enforcement at the airport, the report says — but if that were to happen, he would “attack them and kill them and be killed. This is important for me, that Allah gives me bravery and steadfastness.”
After Aman checked in to JFK Airport and made it through security, authorities found a silver pen on him. Aman had recommended a steel pen as a weapon in his cyber security manual. Security also found a notebook detailing his intention to become a fighter and a martyr.
Aman had allegedly tried to move to the Middle East to join the terrorist organization twice before but failed both times — once because his credit card declined, and once because his mother took away his passport.
Aman “presents both a significant danger to the community and a substantial risk of flight if released on bond,” Peace said in court documents, and “he must be detained pending trial to ensure the safety of the community.”
Aman’s lawyer, Michael Padden of the Brooklyn Federal Defenders Office, did not respond to the Press’ request for comment.
Aman faces up to 20 years in prison, if convicted. A court date has yet to be set.
Aman joins eight other Long Islanders involved in terrorist plots
Aman is one of nine people with Long Island ties implicated in a terror plot since the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. Elvis Redzepagic of Commack was sentenced in 2021 to 17 years in prison for trying to join ISIS. Bryant Neal Vinas of Patchogue, an al-Qaeda recruit-turned-informant, was released from prison in 2017.
Westbury native Samir Khan, the one-time editor of al-Qaeda’s magazine, was killed in a drone strike in Yemen in 2011. Mohammad Younis of Centereach pleaded guilty in 2011 to unwittingly providing $7,000 to Faisal Shahzad, the would-be Times Square Bomber. And Zoobia Shahnaz of Brentwood was sentenced last year to 13 years in federal prison for sending more than $150,000 to ISIS.
In addition, fellow Brentwood residents Marcos Alonso Zea and Justin Kaliebe were sentenced in 2016 to 25 years and 13 years in prison, respectively, for trying to join al-Qaeda. And Pulse nightclub shooter Omar Mateen, who grew up in Westbury, pledged allegiance to ISIS during the 2017 Orlando massacre.