Ahmad Khalil Elshazly, 29, of West Haven, Connecticut, was sentenced to 92 months in prison and lifetime supervised release for attempting to provide material support to ISIS, the designated foreign terrorist organization also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham. U.S. District Judge Victor A. Bolden handed down the sentence in the District of Connecticut, closing out a case that stretched back nearly seven years.
According to the Justice News announcement, the sentence followed Elshazly's guilty plea in November 2022. That plea came nearly three years after federal agents intervened to stop him from leaving the country.
A Boat Trip That Never Left the Dock
The FBI arrested Elshazly in December 2019 as he walked toward a boat he believed would carry him to Turkey, where he planned to make his way onward to Syria and join ISIS, per the Jewish Ledger. He had paid $500 to someone he believed could smuggle him out of the United States, the same report notes. A federal complaint was filed against him on December 16, 2019, and a judge ordered him detained that same day, according to court records on CourtListener.
A 2019 report from NBC Connecticut had identified Elshazly as 22 years old at the time of his arrest, while the Justice Department's 2026 sentencing announcement lists him as 29.
Before his attempted departure, prosecutors said Elshazly administered a pro-ISIS Discord server with about 20 users, one that distributed ISIS-produced propaganda alongside other jihadist content, the Jewish Ledger reported. The case is docketed as United States v. Elshazly, case number 3:20-cr-00071, in the District of Connecticut, per CourtListener's records.
Prosecutors Sought Fifteen Years, Cited Jailhouse Conduct
Ahead of sentencing, the Justice Department had asked the court to impose 15 years in prison along with lifetime supervised release, according to the Jewish Ledger's reporting. The offense carried a statutory maximum of 20 years, though the plea agreement capped the government's request at no more than 15.
Prosecutors pointed to Elshazly's conduct behind bars in arguing for a lengthy term. The Jewish Ledger reported that in August 2025, officers searching his cell found handwritten plans for an inmate uprising, a discovery that led to 60 days of disciplinary segregation. The same report states that Elshazly had disciplinary violations on 15 separate occasions since his arrest.
