A 19-year-old Texan claiming allegiance to ISIS is facing a possible prison term after he allegedly threatened during a Zoom lecture to bomb the University of Houston.
Ibraheem Ahmed Al Bayati of Richmond faces federal charges of making threats or conveying false information to destroy by means of fire or explosives and making a threat over interstate commerce.
Islam expert Robert Spencer noted at Jihad Watch that Al Bayati claimed it was all a joke.
“Of course! What else could it be? After all, it isn’t as if Ib Raheem Ahmed Al Bayati is a ‘far-right extremist’ or something really dangerous like that,” Spencer wrote.
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KPRC in Houston reported Al Bayati, who identifies himself as Abu Qital al Jihadi al Mansur, joined a University of Houston student lecture on Sept. 2.
Officials said he interrupted the lecture by saying, “What does any of this have to do with the fact that UH is about to get bombed in a few days?”
He then said “Islamic State will remain” in Arabic and held up his index finger and repeated the phrase ‘Dawlatul Islam Baqia,'” the report said.
Students gasped and Al Bayati left the Zoom call, the report said.
Spencer said, “Prepare to hear a great deal in the next few days about ‘Islamophobia’ at the University of Houston, as the cause of this incident.”
He quoted a passage from the Quran: “Make ready for them whatever force and strings of horses you can, to strike terror into the enemy of Allah and your enemy, and others besides them that you know not; Allah knows them. And whatever you spend in the way of Allah shall be repaid you in full; you will not be wronged.”
KHOU reported the threat was “shocking” to students and staff.
Courthouse News reported FBI agent Keith Fogg wrote in an affidavit that he interviewed Al Bayati after the threats.
“He admitted to being on the Zoom call, making the statements, and claimed that the whole thing was a joke, devised by him and a friend,” the agent said.
The bureau discovered that a friend had sent Al Bayati the link to the Zoom class.
“Fogg also found text messages on Al Bayati’s phone in which he bragged to friends that he is known as an Islamic State recruiter,” the report said.
ISIS rose to power in Iraq during the administration of Barack Obama, taking over more than 39,000 square miles in Iraq and neighboring Syria by 2014.
Under the Trump administration, ISIS largely has been removed from most of that territory, maintaining power exerted by individuals in a few pockets of the Middle East.
In the U.S., 208 people have been charged with counts related to ISIS since March 2014.
