A US citizen from New Jersey is accused of attempting to join the al Shabaab terrorist group and tweeting threats to bomb America in support of Hamas after its October 7 attack on Israel.
Karrem Nasr, 23, was arrested December 14 after flying to Nairobi, Kenya, where prosecutors say he was planning to meet with al Shabaab members before traveling to train in Somalia, where the terror group is based.
Prosecutors say Nasr, using the X moniker ‘Egyptian Muslim’, last month posted that ‘Jihad on your home turf’ was ‘coming soon to a US location near you,’ posting airplane, bomb, and fire emojis.
According to an unsealed complaint, Nasr had lived in Lawrenceville, New Jersey until moving to Egypt in June, and began to express a desire to join al Shabaab and wage jihad against the West in November, in response the the Israel-Hamas war.
‘As alleged, Karrem Nasr, motivated by the heinous terrorist attack perpetrated by Hamas on October 7, devoted himself to waging violent jihad against America and its allies,’ said US Attorney Damian Williams in a statement.
Karrem Nasr, 23, was arrested December 14 after flying to Nairobi, Kenya, where prosecutors say he was planning to meet with al Shabaab members
According to an unsealed complaint, Nasr began to express a desire to join al Shabaab and wage jihad in November. Pictured: al Shabaab fighters train in Somalia
Nasr was arrested after flying from Egypt to Kenya, where prosecutors say he planned to meet with al Shabaab members in order to travel on to Somalia to train with the terror group.
He is charged with attempting to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization. He faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted.
‘Nasr was prepared to kill and be killed to support the jihadist cause, and in his own words, he described America as ‘evil’ and the ‘head of the snake,” said Williams.
The accused terrorist was returned to the US on Thursday and was scheduled to appear Friday before a federal magistrate in Manhattan.
Court records did not list a lawyer who could speak on Nasr’s behalf.
Nasr, who also went by the alias Ghareeb Al-Muhajir, expressed his desire to join al Shabaab in both online postings and communications with a paid FBI informant who was posing as a facilitator for terrorist organizations, according to a criminal complaint unsealed Friday.
Nasr told the informant ‘the No. 1 enemy is America,’ which he described as the ‘head of the snake,’ the complaint said.
He posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, that jihad was ‘coming soon to a US location near you,’ the complaint said.
The post, under the name ‘Egyptian Muslim,’ included airplane, bomb, and fire emojis.
Nasr posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, that jihad was ‘coming soon to a US location near you,’ the complaint said
Nasr, who moved to Egypt in July, started communicating with the FBI informant in November via an encrypted messaging app, according to the criminal complaint.
He told the informant that he had been thinking of waging jihad ‘for a long time’ but that he was ‘not capable of doing it’ before Hamas attacked Israel, the complaint said.
‘After the October 7th events, I felt that something has changed,’ Nasr told the informant, according to the complaint. ‘To the better, I mean. I felt that pride and dignity came back to the Muslims.’
A Facebook page identified by DailyMail.com as belonging to Nasr also expressed veiled references to Hamas.
On October 7, Nasr sarcastically posted calling Ukrainians ‘terrorists’ for defending their country against Russia’s invasion, seeming to draw parallels between that war and the Hamas attack.
‘In my hood, bullies get bullied,’ he wrote on October 10, adding ‘Cornered dogs bite’ two days later.
The Facebook page identifies Nasr as a professional copywriter, marketing consultant, and ‘Insurgent Against Modernity’.
A Facebook page identified by DailyMail.com as belonging to Nasr identifies him as a professional copywriter, and contains veiled expressions of support for Hamas
On October 7, Nasr seemed to compare the deadly Hamas attack on Israel to Ukraine’s war of self-defense against Russia’s invasion
The US designated al Shabaab a foreign terrorist organization in 2008.
The group evolved from a coalition of Islamic insurgents that fought Somalia’s fledgling central government and seized control of large swaths of territory in the early 2000s.
It has been blamed for myriad violence, including suicide bombings, a beheading and the targeted assassinations of civilians and journalists.
Somalia’s President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud has pledged to wipe out al Shabaab within a year.
The group has been losing territory since the government, backed by local militias, African Union troops and Western powers, launched an extensive offensive against it in May.