Former DePaul University student Thomas Osadzinski was sentenced in Chicago Thursday for trying to the help Islamic State with a computer program.
An unusual terrorism case in Chicago came to a close Thursday when a federal judge handed a seven-and-a-half-year prison sentence to a former DePaul University student who tried to aid the Islamic State with a computer script.
Osadzinski's prosecution was believed to be the first of its kind when it began three years ago - a terrorism case brought against a U.S.-based defendant involving computer code. At trial in October 2021, Osadzinski's lawyers insisted it ran up against fundamental questions about free speech. He also said "there must be coordination with" or direction from, the Islamic State to find Osadzinski guilty. But Assistant U.S. Attorney Melody Wells argued there was "nothing independent about this." She told jurors Osadzinski had been responding to Islamic State propaganda, which urged supporters to "strive patiently in the digital arena."
Additionally, the feds alleged that Osadzinski bragged about narrating a video produced by a group supportive of the Islamic State. Titled "The Fighting Has Just Begun," the video allegedly urged people to "return the flames of war into the countries of aggressors."
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