Shaikh Faisal: NYPD Commissioner Sewell, D.A. Bragg announce trial conviction of radical cleric for providing support for ISIS

New York City Police Commissioner Keechant L. Sewell and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg, Jr., have announced the trial conviction of radical cleric Trevor William Forrest, 59, or otherwise known as “Shaikh Abdullah Faisal” or simply “Shaikh Faisal”.

The conviction, according to the District Attorney’s office, is for “using his public profile and personal network to recruit and provide support for the Islamic State’s acts of violence and terrorism against others.”

In a press release by the DA’s office, the statement noted that this all-count conviction comes after the first-ever New York State terrorism trial.

For recruiting supporters and facilitating efforts to join ISIS, a New York State Supreme Court jury found Faisal guilty.

In addition, Faisal was found guilty of “soliciting or providing support for an act of terrorism in the first degree as a crime of terrorism, Soliciting or Providing Support for an Act of Terrorism in the First Degree, Attempted Soliciting or Providing Support for an Act of Terrorism in the First Degree as a Crime of Terrorism, Conspiracy in the Fourth Degree as a Crime of Terrorism and Attempted Soliciting or Providing Support for an Act of Terrorism.”

The case, according to the statement, was the result of a joint investigation by the NYPD Intelligence Bureau and the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office’s Counter Terrorism Program, which was created in June 2015 to identify and pursue investigative leads related to terror plots, extremist activities, and terror-financing.

Shaikh Faisal, who would be sentenced on February 9 as proven at trial, provided material support to the Islamic State (“ISIS” or “ISIL,”) through “violent jihadist advocacy and ISIS recruitment through different writings, speeches and recordings, tradecraft instructions to others on how best to travel to Syria and Iraq to join ISIS and how best to avoid suspicion or arrest, providing contact information of foreign fighters to facilitate entry into and support in ISIS regions and acceptance by ISIS partners, strategizing with Islamic State fighters on battlefield tactics
creating opportunities for women jihadi aspirants to meet and marry ISIS adherents, inspiring others to commit their own violent acts in allegiance to ISIS.”

NYPD Commissioner Sewell stated that: “This defendant threatened the safety of thousands by providing material support for an international terrorist organization.”

She added: “Identifying and stopping individuals like this before they can harm the United States and our people are the ideals upon which our Intelligence and Counterterrorism Bureaus were established. I commend and thank the investigators from the NYPD, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, and all of our partner agencies for their tireless work on this important case.”

Trevor William Forrest, (Shaikh Abdullah Faisal” or Shaikh Faisal) is convicted of “Soliciting or Providing Support for an Act of Terrorism in the First Degree as a Crime of Terrorism, a class B violent felony, 1 count, Soliciting or Providing Support for an Act of Terrorism in the First Degree, a class C violent felony, 1 count, Attempted Soliciting or Providing Support for an Act of Terrorism in the First Degree as a Crime of Terrorism, a class C violent felony, 1 count, Conspiracy in the Fourth Degree as a Crime of Terrorism, a class D violent felony, 1 count, Attempted Soliciting or Providing Support for an Act of Terrorism in the First Degree, a class D violent felony, 1 count.”