A US judge on Friday sentenced a Canadian born in Saudi Arabia to life in prison after he pleaded guilty in December to aiding Islamic State by working with propagandists who publicized the group’s beheading of hostages, including American journalist James Foley.
Mohamed Khalifa, 39, who grew up in Toronto and left Canada in 2013 for Syria, killed two Syrian soldiers on behalf of the group before being captured by US-backed Kurdish forces in 2019, it said. statement from the US Department of Justice regarding his sentencing.
He was transferred to the Federal Bureau of Investigation last October and pleaded guilty on Dec. 10 to providing material support or resources to a foreign terrorist organization resulting in death, the department said.
His life sentence was ordered by Senior U.S. District Judge TS Ellis of the Eastern District of Virginia, where his trial took place.
Islamic State rose to global prominence after releasing videos in 2014 of the beheadings of American journalists James Foley and Stephen Sotloff and British aid workers Alan Henning and David Haines.
Khalifa worked for the department that released the videos, US prosecutors said.
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