A federal appeals court on April 21, 2026, wiped out one terrorism-related conviction for Akayed Ullah, the man behind the 2017 pipe-bomb blast in the tunnel linking Times Square and the Port Authority Bus Terminal. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit threw out Ullah’s conviction under the federal material-support statute but kept the rest of his convictions in place, which means the life sentences he is already serving remain intact. The decision tightens the legal line between attackers who act under orders from a foreign terrorist group and those who self-radicalize on extremist content and act on their own.
In its opinion filed April 21, 2026, the court reversed Count One after finding the evidence did not prove Ullah provided material support under 18 U.S.C. § 2339B. The majority acknowledged that Ullah was influenced by ISIS propaganda but wrote that “the fact that Ullah ‘subjectively conceived of himself as a soldier of ISIS does not establish that ISIS did, in fact, control or direct his actions,’” according to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Judge Steven J. Menashi dissented, arguing that the jury’s verdict on the tossed count should have been left undisturbed.
What happened in 2017 and how he was punished
On the morning of Dec. 11, 2017, at about 7:20 a.m., Ullah detonated a homemade pipe bomb in the packed commuter tunnel that connects Times Square to the Port Authority Bus Terminal. The blast injured several commuters and Ullah himself. He later told investigators he acted “on behalf of the Islamic State,” prosecutors said at trial. A jury convicted him on six counts in 2018, and in April 2021 he was sentenced to life in prison, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. Jurors heard physical evidence collected in the tunnel and post-attack admissions Ullah made both in court and to investigators.
How the court read the material-support law
The Second Circuit concluded that after Congress amended § 2339B in 2004, prosecutors must show a defendant acted under a terrorist organization’s “direction or control,” not just that the person shared the group’s ideology or soaked up its online propaganda. Relying on the ordinary meaning of words like “direction” and “independent,” the majority held that someone who operates entirely on their own cannot be convicted under § 2339B without proof of actual guidance or supervision, according to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. At the same time, the panel upheld Ullah’s convictions on the mass-transportation and explosives charges, leaving in place the concurrent life terms tied to those counts.
Local impact and what comes next
On the ground in New York City, nothing changes immediately: Ullah remains in federal custody serving life, and the core explosives and mass-transportation convictions still stand. The narrowed reading of the material-support law and the split between the judges were highlighted in coverage by Bloomberg Law, which pointed to potential ripple effects in how prosecutors approach future lone-wolf cases tied to online extremist content. The government can ask the full court to take another look or seek further review, and legal observers say the opinion could push prosecutors to be more cautious about when they lean on § 2339B in similar cases.
The case is United States v. Ullah, No. 21-1058. The Second Circuit reversed in part and affirmed in part, vacated Count One, and sent the matter back to the lower court for proceedings consistent with its opinion. Victims’ advocates and transit officials are likely to scrutinize whatever comes next, but for now the life sentences imposed after the 2018 conviction remain in force.
