The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has now resorted to recruiting teenagers, even those with autism, and arresting them later – all in the name of "fighting terrorism" and "upholding national security."
Thailand-based independent journalist Ben Bartee expounded on this scheme by the federal law enforcement agency. He cited a Jan. 10 piece by Murtaza Hussain of the Intercept, which tackled the arrest of 18-year-old Humzah Mashkoor.
FBI agents arrested Mashkoor at the Denver International Airport on Dec. 18. At the time of his arrest, the teen had been planning to fly to Dubai and transfer to either Syria or Afghanistan to join the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). According to Hussain's piece, Mashkoor's flight had been spurred by conversations he had with four alleged ISIS members beginning when the teen was 16 years old.
But the four ISIS members were actually undercover FBI agents, according to the Department of Justice's criminal complaint against Mashkoor. "As a result of his conversations with the FBI, Mashkoor could face a lengthy sentence for attempting to provide material support to a terrorist organization," the Intercept pointed out.
Family members said at an initial court hearing that Mashkoor, who had turned 18 just a few weeks before the arrest, had intellectual difficulties and had been diagnosed with autism. In July 2022, local police were called to his home following an alleged assault of a family member during a dispute. Court filings at the time said a relative disclosed Mashkoor's mental issues and autism diagnosis to law enforcement.
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Despite law enforcement being aware of the teenager's autism diagnosis, the judge overseeing the case ordered that Mashkoor be detained while awaiting trial. (Related: FBI entrapped neurodiverse teenager in sinister terrorism scheme, mom alleges.)
"It's not lost on this court that Mashkoor is a young man with possible mental illness and the diagnosis of high-functioning autism. It is [also] clear he has a sea of familial support," the magistrate said. "But based on this evidence, there's no reasonable assurance here that the court can simply chalk all this up to the defendant simply being a young man."
FBI agents befriend Mashkoor online
"Law enforcement agents first became aware of Mashkoor's online activities in support of ISIS in November 2021," the Intercept article stated. "But instead of alerting his family, … FBI agents posing as ISIS members befriended him a year later and strung him along until he became a legal adult."
Joshua Herman, a defense attorney representing Mashkoor, said: "It is appalling that the government never once reached out to his parents, even while they were sending undercover agents to befriend him online starting when he was 16 years old. Almost all of the conduct he is alleged to have committed took place when he was a juvenile."
Sahar Aziz, a law professor at Rutgers University in New Jersey, described Mashkoor's arrest as a "waste of government resources." He continued: "If there was a serious terrorist threat in America, the FBI would not be spending its time entrapping a mentally ill minor."
"This case appears consistent with a common fact pattern seen in tens, if not hundreds, of terrorism-related cases in which the FBI has effectively manufactured terrorist prosecutions. In this case, it was a 16-year-old kid who otherwise would have just sat in his relatives' basement posting offensive content in a manner similar to a White supremacist or Proud Boy – people whom the FBI does not spend enormous resources to entrap just so they can get a high-profile press release."
"Appalling, perhaps, but not shocking," Bartee remarked. "Why would the FBI agents try to prevent crime, when they can get a promotion out of egging it on? There's no money or prestige in quietly extinguishing terror in the womb."
Head over to FBICorruption.news for similar stories.
Watch Kyle Seraphin exposes the FBI's abuses on "Triggered with Donald Trump Jr." below.
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