Terrorism · Tuesday, September 29, 2026
Connecticut man gets 92 months for trying to join ISIS
The File desk · Sep 29, 2026, 10:16 AM UTC
Status
Confirmed (DOJ Office of Public Affairs, Sept. 28, 2026)
On Sept. 28, 2026, U.S. District Judge Victor A. Bolden in the District of Connecticut sentenced Ahmad Khalil Elshazly, 29, of West Haven, to 92 months in prison and lifetime supervised release for attempting to provide material support to the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham. The Justice Department says that in December 2019 he paid $500 to someone he believed would smuggle him toward Syria, and that he was arrested the next day in Stonington after arriving to board a boat. He pleaded guilty on Nov. 30, 2022. While detained, officers in August 2025 found a handwritten plan for a coordinated uprising in his cell, the department said.
U.S. District Judge Victor A. Bolden sentenced Ahmad Khalil Elshazly on Sept. 28, 2026.
Elshazly, 29, of West Haven, Connecticut, received 92 months in prison and lifetime supervised release.
The charge was attempting to provide material support to the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham, the group the department calls ISIS.
The department’s headline describes the term as more than seven years.
In December 2019, the department says, he paid $500 to someone he believed would smuggle him toward Syria.
He was arrested the next day in Stonington, after he arrived to board a boat.
He pleaded guilty on Nov. 30, 2022.
While he was detained, officers in August 2025 found a handwritten plan for a coordinated uprising in his cell, the department said.
The Office of Public Affairs release does not state a case number. This desk did not pull a docket.
What is still unknown or disputed
- Case number not stated on the Office of Public Affairs release.
- Docket PDF not pulled.
Primary sources
Every claim in this story is drawn from the documents below. If a fetch failed, that is recorded on the card.
Source 1
Connecticut Man Who Attempted to Travel to the Middle East to Join and Fight for ISIS Sentenced to Over Seven Years in Prison
U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Public Affairs · September 28, 2026
sentenced today… to 92 months in prison and lifetime supervised release for attempting to provide material support to… ISIS
https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/connecticut-man-who-attempted-travel-middle-east-join-and-fight-isis-sentenced-over-seven