The Department of Justice (DOJ) has sentenced a Tennessee man to 20 years in prison for providing translation services to the ISIS terrorist group.
Benjamin Carpenter, a 34-year-old Knoxville, Tennessee, resident who also goes by the alias of Abu Hamza, was the leader of an international organization of ISIS supporters called Ahlut-Tawhid Publications (ATP).
ATP produces, translates, and distributes ISIS propaganda such as its weekly newsletter, “From Dabiq to Rome,” which praises the deaths of American soldiers while celebrating suicide bombers.
The ATP called for war against the United States.
According to court documents, Mr. Carpenter and ATP members regularly communicated through Telegram.
Mr. Carpenter established communication with a person he believed to be connected with ISIS’s media bureau to offer his translation services, the DOJ said.
His intent, the DOJ said, was to assist in relaunching ISIS’s foreign-language media platform, the Al-Hayat Media Center.
However, the person with whom Mr. Carpenter connected was an FBI Online Covert Employee (OCE), the DOJ said, who had been investigating his online activity.
The FBI OCE told Mr. Carpenter that he was a member of the “diwan,” an ISIS organization that produced media content for the terrorist organization.
The undercover FBI agent told Mr. Carpenter he wanted ISIS videos translated into English, including one 25-minute video documenting ISIS military fighting against Egyptian troops.
The video showed the execution of three people, one of whom was believed to be an Israeli spy, the court documents reported.
Mr. Carpenter translated the videos, motivated not by money but by “a deeply held belief in ISIS and its ideology and methods, including violence,” the court documents said.
“For years, this defendant led a global digital media operation to distribute pro-ISIS propaganda, promoting the group’s radical message of terror and pushing it to every corner of the world,” said Assistant Attorney General Matthew Olsen with the DOJ’s National Security Division. “Today’s sentence reflects the seriousness of this defendant’s conduct and the Justice Department’s commitment to identifying and holding accountable those who would provide material support to foreign terrorist organizations.”
Mr. Carpenter’s Response
Mr. Carpenter responded to the conviction through his attorney, who argued that there is a difference between engaging in violent activities and providing a translation service.He added that his work is protected under the First Amendment, which the court didn’t consider when sentencing him.
“Mr. Carpenter maintains that the terrorism enhancement does not apply to the convicted offense because it was not calculated to influence or affect the conduct of government by intimidation or coercion or to retaliate against government conduct,” the court document stated.
“If anything, as the Government has pointed out, the offense conduct was ‘for the intended audience of ISIS sympathizers.’”
Robert Wells, the executive assistant director of the FBI’s National Security Branch, said Mr. Carpenter will be held accountable for conspiring with an organization known to be a threat to the country.
“He led a propaganda machine which called for war against U.S. and allied forces through suicide bombings and other means,” he said. “The FBI and our partners will relentlessly pursue and bring to justice terrorists who devote their lives to hurting American citizens.”
