North West Chicago man charged with ISIS terrorism case

CHICAGO (WLS) –

A Chicago man of Iraqi origin is in federal custody and accused of using ISIS social networking platforms to recruit violent jihadists.

Ashraf Al Safoo, 34, was arrested on Wednesday morning following a raid on his home located in the 5200 block of North Virginia Avenue. Al Safoo had been detained by FBI agents assigned to the bureau's Joint Terrorism Working Group.

A lengthy, unsealed criminal complaint on Friday afternoon provides details of Al Safoo's alleged campaign to find fighters on the Internet who were interested in terrorist attacks in the United States and elsewhere. The authorities say that he was not named or charged, but that he would have worked with other people in the alleged plot of terrorism support.

Federal investigators said that the Web developer, whose biography indicates that he was trained in Malaysia, used social media posts, audio clips and videos to recruit terrorists.

Among the screen shots of the Islamist propaganda allegedly used by Al Safoo, one finds a horrible color illustration of a headless Santa Claus, accompanied by the phrase: "The gifts of the Khilafahs arrive". Other attempts to recruit the Chicago man show that suspected terrorists were armed with firearms, imminent attacks on Christmas celebrants and a time bomb in a gift box.

Al Safoo appeared in federal court on Friday, where he was sentenced to imprisonment until a hearing on his detention was held on October 25th.

Prosecutors said it was a danger to the community and a risk of absconding. They described him as the senior editor of a group spreading the propaganda of the Islamic State. Authorities said that he had asked his supporters to "participate in the war. Spread the fear."

The criminal complaint states that Al Safoo works for a Chicago software company, BlueBolt Solutions, located north of LaSalle Street. His LinkedIn profile indicates that he has been working as a web developer for BlueBolt since 2013, specializing in Microsoft technologies. On Friday night, the company's director, David E. Risner, told Team I that they were "deeply shocked, saddened and totally incredulous to learn this situation." We are cooperating fully with the company. FBI and local authorities as part of the investigation ".

Al Safoo's profile also states that he obtained an undergraduate degree in 2006 from the Al-Hussein Bin Talal University in Jordan and a master's degree in 2007 from the Universiti Sains Malaysia. .

Investigators say that he is a naturalized US citizen, born in Mosul Iraq and settled in the United States in September 2008.